“Chronic stress and inflammation are increasingly understood as deeply interwoven processes, shaping both mental and physical health. Much of modern physiology supports a question many people now ask: does stress cause inflammation in the body? Yoga philosophy provides its own lens on this question, particularly through the concepts of tapas and samskara, which speak to how unprocessed experience shapes mind and behaviour.”
Its worth noting that short term stress is a good regulatory mechanism in out body, telling us to take protective action. When stress settles in and becomes prolonged – aka chronic stress – then problems start.
It is also important to recognise that stress is not a fixed condition or entity in itself. Rather, it reflects an ongoing interaction between perception, meaning-making, and physiological response. From this perspective, what we commonly call “stress” arises from how experiences are interpreted and held within the system over time—an understanding that closely parallels yogic concepts such as samskara, where unprocessed experience leaves an imprint that shapes future patterns of reactivity.
