A stress-relieving yoga practice
Over the next few blog posts, I'll be offering yoga tools to help relieve stress and anxiety. My passion in teaching yoga is helping others find a sense of ease and relaxation in this busy world. I personally came to yoga for this same reason. My practice was a refuge from the chaos of New York City and my high pressured marketing job in television. Now, I personally rely on a few specific postures, breathing techniques, meditations and chants when going through particularly stressful times in my life. As a yoga therapist, I pull on these same tools for my clients when they are overwhelmed, exhausted, stressed out and in desperate need of a break and a rest.
Let's start with the body. When stressed, our bodies prepare to fight, flight or freeze. They are trying to ready us for the real or perceived danger in our environment. Energy moves away from the organs and into our limbs. Our bodies put digestion, reproduction, hormone regulation, immune function all on hold. Normally, this would be temporary. Danger passes and the body goes back to regulating itself. However, often times and for many of us, we stay in this state of high alert. Never really switching off these sympathetic nervous system responses.
The yoga herein is designed to help you switch off. To turn down the sympathetic nervous system and move into relaxation, into parasympathetic. When in this state, the body's resources are allocated back towards the immune system, the digestion, the blood flow, the liver detoxing and more. We repair physically and rejuvenate mentally.
“Taking time out of each day to relax and renew is essential to living well.”
Practice
Legs up the wall
Set up:
Lie down on the floor and swing your legs up a wall. Hips can be slightly away from the wall. Arms outstretched by your sides so your shoulders are open.
Prop options:
Bolster under your hips and blanket under your back and head. Alternatively, you can use just a blanket under your hips.
Being there:
Settle in with a few deep breaths - in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Continue to breath naturally and with awareness. Let your hips sink into the earth. Allow your back and your head to be supported by the floor. No need to hold yourself up. Feel the flow of energy shift as you are upside.
Benefits:
Good for resetting the nervous system
Beneficial for jet lag
Resets your natural rhythms, especially helpful for insomnia
Eases swollen legs and/or tired feet
Relieves physical tension from body
If you'd like to learn more or set up a private yoga therapy session with me: