Today we have the first video in the Yoga for Mental Health series!!! To start us off, I picked a restorative practice.
Restorative yoga is a form of yoga where we allow our body to drop into a resting form of a yoga posture. We hold each pose for an extended period of time to allow gravity to move us deeper into the posture. This also tells our nervous system that nothing is going on, and we are not in danger. During most of the day, our nervous system is assessing for threats and trying to decide how to react so we survive. This is our sympathetic nervous system and when it detects a threat, it sends us into fight, flight or freeze. This speeds up our heart rate, tenses our muscles, inhibits digestion of our food and our breathing becomes shallow.
In order to balance this, we also have a parasympathetic nervous system that is also known as our “rest and digest” system. This is where our heart rate slows down, our body relaxes and we feel calm and peaceful. Our bodies used to be so much better at shifting between these two states, but our current culture often keeps us in a stressed stated. We need to teach our nervous system how to find that calm spot again.
Here’s where restorative yoga shines! Restorative practices are great for increasing comfort in the body, decreasing symptoms of stress and anxiety and can be amazing for retraining the nervous system to stay present and calm for people who have experienced dissociation from trauma. Restorative yoga is safe for all levels and this practice does not require any fancy props. You can use items you find around the house, or nothing at all. Feel free to adjust the practice to suit your body so you feel comfortable. If your mind wanders to places that don’t feel good, return your focus to your breath or on a mantra.
* The sound in the video cuts out right after the introduction because I rolled onto the reciever for the mic. Turn the volume up when I move into the first pose.