Restorative Yoga posture series, It’s important in today’s Restorative is a bringing back to a former position or condition of our own status of health. These poses feel better .Makes our body ideal rest ,recover and regenerate itself .
LEARNING TO SLOW DOWN, SOFTEN, RELEASE AND RESTORE
“When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world. Your innermost sense of self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness.” – Eckhart Toll
I have decided to write about Restorative postures and how to bring them into your daily routine.
Part 1 –
Today’s lifestyle our lives become ever busier, more hectic and stressful. There is a greater need than ever for us to take regular time to stop, slow down, release and restore.
Modern day life has us running around firing on all cylinders and in “fight or flight” mode (activated by the body’s sympathetic nervous system) most of the time. The effect of this is, it increases our blood pressure, speeds up our heart, raises blood sugar levels, elevates levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, causes problems with our digestion, and redirects blood away from our internal organs .All this is making them function less effectively. This makes our breathing faster and shallow.
This doesn’t sound so great.
The problem is that the stress and relentless pace of modern life leads to people being in this state most of the time . That is when the problems with our body and mind start to happen.
Restorative postures can combat the effects of all of this running around at high speed by kick-starting our “rest and digest” or para-sympathetic nervous system and bringing our whole system back into more harmony.
This makes our body rest, recover, and regenerate itself.
Activation of the “rest and digest” or relaxation response helps to lower blood pressure, slow our heart rate, boost immune function, restore good digestion, reduce our anxiety and stress levels and improve our sleep.
Restorative yoga is an incredible way of helping to heal the whole body and mind. In activating the parasympathetic or relaxation response it helps to balance the whole nervous system and sets up the whole body for deep healing, growth and repair. Specific sequences of restorative poses can be used to help with numerous issues, including relieving back pain, menstrual and menopausal symptoms, stress, anxiety and depression, digestive disorders, insomnia, exhaustion, headaches and asthma.
These slower practices of restorative yoga can help us to find that inner harmony in our minds, bodies and lives:
“In addition to learning how to take control and assume responsibility, a person also needs to learn when and how to let go, to surrender, to go with the flow and not resist or fight it. Letting go versus taking control — this is, of course, just another version of being versus doing.
The beauty of restorative postures is, All you need to do is learn how to go in this and set up the pose and then simply be there, tuning into your body, your breath and exploring what happens when you slowly release your habitual ways of holding.
Since restorative Postures are held longer ,they have time to really penetrate our bodies’ organ systems, including our mind and emotions, and thus creating significant shifts in both physical and mental health.
So why not take some time out to let go, slow down and just see what happens? You may soon find yourself wanting to carve out time to do this every day!
Part 2 –
Restorative posture is by nature a receptive practice ,wherein you can guide yourself towards a healthier and more balanced state of being.
It is a practice of consciously turning inwards, of quieting the body and mind and nurturing ourselves.
Another great benefit of restorative yoga is that it can be a great segue between more active yoga postures and meditation.
Restorative postures are much more than just Pranayam, meditation, relaxation or yoga nidra. As these are higher levels of physiological state of our body, prior to which we need to enhance our health first. We need to prepare our physical and Physiological body for Pranayam, Dharana and Dyana. Otherwise one will get many diseases, this has been maintained in hatha yoga text.
The restorative postures are safe and much more effective and beneficial in today’s lifestyle than other dynamic forms of postures and relaxation techniques.
As the body begins to settle in these poses, our breath slows down and the mind also begins to find more stillness and spaciousness thus making it a perfect prep for meditation.
Our aim is to stay aware of our body, the sensations and emotions that arise as we remain in the poses, and observing all of these without judgement. It imbibes the quality of acceptance and surrender to the present moment.
As we are accustomed to holding ourselves together at all cost, it can sometimes be a little unnerving to begin to let go of that rigidity and surrender, and for some people it can be very challenging to just “be”. But as we continue to stay and soften, we will begin to find more ease in our bodies and minds, and shift into a different way of being, both during our practice and in our daily life.
Restorative postures can be seen as a special treat, and time to really slow down and let go, somewhat similar to having a massage. However, with regular practice, the more often we do these slower and longer-held poses, the more we can reap the benefits. It’s also worth remembering that in order for us to be able to really surrender and release deeply held tensions, it is important to take time and care when setting up our props for these poses, so that we can feel completely at ease and almost cocooned in each pose.
So why not take some time out to let go, slow down and just see what happens? You may soon find yourself wanting to carve out time to do this every day and make it a part of your life!
Part 3 –
In today’s lifestyle, these restorative postures are very necessary ,safe and more effective and beneficial.
These postures are to be held for a longer time to get most of its Physiological , Psychological and spiritual benefits.
One can start with from 5 minutes to 20 minutes which will be dependent upon the person’s state of health. In your practice , keep increasing time to reach a deeper level . Under the guidance of an expert teacher who knows distortion in spaces and forces.
In these Postures , you are always supported and held in these shapes with the support of bolsters and blankets or wooden benches.
This posture can be performed Immediately after a meal.
* As demand of the blood supply towards the lower limbs is reduced . This increases the blood supply towards all over organs situated in the torso, like the digestive system including heart and brain.
*Expansion of the muscles of the torso parallel to the spine , lHence removing pressure on the vertebral column.
*In this posture, the abdominal , pelvic with chest cavity is opened more, space is created.
Thus creating negative pressure within organs situated in these cavities will spread and will be flooded with blood supply.
Part 4 –
In today’s lifestyle, these restorative postures are very necessary ,safe and more effective and beneficial.
These postures are to be held for a longer time to get most of its Physiological , Psychological and spiritual benefits.
One can start with from 5 minutes to 20 minutes which will be dependent upon the person’s state of health. In your practice , keep increasing time to reach a deeper level . Under the guidance of an expert teacher who knows distortion in spaces and forces.
In these Postures , you are always supported and held in these shapes with the support of bolsters and blankets or wooden benches.
This posture can be performed Immediately after a meal. As demand of the blood supply towards the lower limbs is reduced and increasing space in body cavities. This increases the blood supply towards all over organs situated in the torso, like heart , lungs ,digestive system including brain.
*Expansion of the muscles of the torso parallel to the spine , Hence removed pressure on vertebral column and improve strength of muscular architecture.
*In this posture, the abdominal , pelvic with chest cavity is opened more, space is created.
Thus creating negative pressure within organs situated in these cavities will spread and will be flooded with blood supply.
Even though this pose looks simple and has tremendous benefits.
But it’s not easy to mature and go deeper and remove the causes as you need to work within other postures too.
It is a very safe posture as we are not abusing or misusing any joints here.
Prolonged period of waiting is very important and necessary ( it’s a relationship of Space – time and gravity that is hardening) to get Physiological benefits.
Watch on this video ,how to go into this pose .
Start doing regularly and watch your own body .
Because of hardening you will not feel any movement and I can’t guide you at each level once you cross a certain level . Then I can guide you what efforts you have to make further.
Hence be in this pose as long as you can under my guidance and see how long you can wait in this pose. This is very necessary because within a few minutes will not get you all these physiological benefits. Because there is so much obstruction of soft tissues in our body within and which varies with each individual.
Discuss with me what feel you get and which area..So accordingly I can guide you and further decide which pose you should do next.
This pose will show you what the state of your body is at every level which you cross.
As we settle into and stay in these poses for a longer time, we slowly begin to create more space in those places that are holding tension.
Musculature and soft tissues situated within are distorted and stiff for many months and years .
As contraction is a very strong defensive force at Physical and mental level and we never expand them correctly. Expansion needs very strong force and strength.
Once, we are settling in this Posture and our awareness within. So they begin to change and expand.
Swati Joshi
© Copyright 2020. All rights reserved.