By Andrea J Morrison
Many years ago I arrived at my yoga teacher's house for a private lesson. On seeing me, she set me up in a restorative yoga pose. I felt the eye bag go on. I woke up - a whole hour later. That was the lesson.
Today the story sounds comical, but at the time I was exhausted. There is no way I could have done a mindful, physical yoga practice that day. The tank was empty.
Since then I have done the same for many of my students and I love to teach restorative yoga, in classes, privately and to trainee teachers. I recognise the fatigue and exhaustion frequently, and the simple, natural need to rest and restore. This is often a symptom of very 'full' lives: work, family, commuting, studying, caring for others, multiple responsibilities, with little or no time to slow down, rest, re-charge, re-inspire or take care of ourselves.
The situation can become chronic, with a weakened immune system, disturbed sleep, anxiety and stress. It can be particularly felt when we care for others as part of our daily life or our profession. As teachers, trainers, carers or therapists for example, how can we give our students and clients what they need if our own resources are depleted?
This is where restorative yoga comes in. While it includes the same form of poses you would find in an active yoga practice such as forward and back bends, twists and inversions, it is completely effortless. The body is fully supported by props. Its origins lie in the therapeutic work of the late BKS Iyengar and each pose has its own particular therapeutic benefits.
Read also : Yoga for the Young
I see restorative yoga as a potent gift that everyone can benefit from in their life. No yoga experience is required. No particular flexibility or strength. No mental effort. Once established, it works its magic in only a few minutes each day.
It is deeply relaxing, rejuvenating and nurturing, and brings us back to homeostasis, our optimal internal balance. Through support and removing activity and stimulation from the body and mind the nervous system is calmed, leading us away from the active 'fight or flight' state to the 'rest and digest' setting of its parasympathetic branch. Our natural functions such as heart rate, breathing, digestion and elimination return to their optimum levels.
On another level, restorative yoga is a practice of non-doing, surrender and consciously moving into stillness. Of 'being' and being at ease with who we are - comfortable in our own skin. It has a meditative quality.
In the tradition of yoga I believe it provides a contemporary stepping stone between the active practices of asana (poses), pranayama (breathing techniques) and yama/niyama (our daily actions and values) and the deep inner practices of pratyahara (turning inwards and quietening of our senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and bliss. For me it is a natural, spontaneous form of pratyahara in which our senses quieten and no longer dominate us. There is an associated balancing of our emotions too.
While restorative yoga can support us in particularly intense or stressful times in life such as moving house, taking exams, starting or losing a job or becoming a parent, its true beauty lies in its regular use as a means of maintaining our long-term wellbeing and easeful strength. It offers us a steady reserve of calm energy, clarity of mind and a sense of gratitude for all the good in life. It enables us to be at our best, live fully and to give what we can to others.
I would like to share with you two of the simplest restorative yoga poses there are. These are perfect at the end of the day and can serve, for example, as a clear and healthy marker between our working day and our personal or family time thereafter. You can also enjoy them before bed, and they will, over time, help you to get to sleep if you have difficulty with that. You can do both or just one.
1. Legs-up-the-wall pose
Start by sitting sideways to the wall. Lean backwards and simultaneously turn so that your legs can rest against the wall. Give yourself a little distance from the wall if the backs of your legs feel tight. The knees are soft, not 'locked' straight. Place a pillow or blanket under your head and in the nape of your neck if you wish. Stay here for 5-7 minutes. Reverse your entry to exit from the pose, very slowly.
2. Basic relaxation pose
If you don't have a bolster, just use a rolled up blanket or duvet etc. under your knees, setting the level of support to what is most comfortable for your lower back. You can rest your hands on your belly if you prefer. Stay here for 7 minutes, or up to 20 if you have the time! To exit, bend your knees into your chest, roll to one side and very slowly come to sitting.
If it is hard for your mind to switch off, perhaps try playing some gentle music, or focusing your mind on observing your natural breathing, either at the tip of your nose or in your lower belly. You may fall asleep, and that's fine if so - you need to!
And just for fun, here is an illustration of what another pose looks like. This is wonderful for releasing any tension around the hips, and for giving space to the abdomen and chest. A teacher would help you set this up.
Please note: an alternative to all these poses would be given for pregnancy.
I hope you enjoy trying some restorative yoga, and making it a regular, easy part of your life. For me as a teacher and mother, it is a wonderful form of self-care that supports me in being present and calmly energised when caring for and working with others.
'This calm steadiness of the senses is called Yoga. Then one should be watchful, because Yoga comes and goes'. Katha Upanishad
For more fab articles like this across the whole range of holistic health, click on http://www.holistichealthzone.co.uk
Article Source: Learn the Power of Relaxational Yoga
Thursday, 2 April 2015
Yoga for the Young
By Sally Wilson
CHILDREN
Naturally any teaching must require certain modification and a selection of techniques that are most appropriate for the benefit of students of any age group and the practices of the traditional disciplines of Yoga are no exception.
For ease in teaching it is desirable for students to be grouped according to age as in other educational systems. This may be ideal, but is not always possible and requires a certain number of students for this type of segregation. Separation of boys and girls in early years of say 3 years to 7 years is not usually necessary. Beyond this age is different.
Although general classes of children of various ages may be established, students will not be completely at ease unless with others of about the same age and it is worthwhile to consider a small nucleus class that will in time increase.
The teaching of Hatha Yoga is based upon the complementary character and interaction of electro-magnetic energies of nature that influence and maintain a balance in our physical and psychological health. The understanding of the pranas or positive and negative energies is fundamental in the philosophy and the practices related to the breath.
Read Also : Yoga For Men Starters Guide
We all exist and function through the balancing of these natural forces and their natural expression through either male or female personalities, with the male to have the positive of Sun energies dominant and the female having the opposite Moon energies uppermost. In a subtle way these energies function by subconscious processes. In a more direct way, they are affected by our minds and state of consciousness.
It is as important for a boy to have an image of what he would wish to become in developing his manhood. Apart from his father as a role model, he needs to develop his own self image for the future - one based upon the warmth, strength, generosity and outgoing power that has the Sun as its symbol. Just as important it is that a girl follows the example of her mother as well as learning to develop the female virtues of gentleness, grace and sensitivity of an ideal woman symbolised by the Moon. This symbolism provides anchorage for establishing their values and influencing their behaviour.
The physical exercises in Hatha Yoga for boys are aimed at developing strength and will as those for girls concentrates upon flexibility and graceful movement. Both must learn the general exercises of traditional movements that develop full freedom of movement as well as muscular tone.
TEENAGE YEARS
Teenagers, that is those from 13 - 17 years of age, have already been influenced by their home life, school life and the example of their peers to the extent that they often are so confident as to not be easily receptive to new ideas and will be more focussed upon the physical cultural aspects at commencement of their classes. However, by the wonderful benefits of relaxation practice they learn to release stress. By stillness of the mind and body in easy meditation they find the key to better concentration and discover a sense of their individual power to direct their lives and perhaps discover an increasing interest in philosophy.
Because of the importance of self discovery and self interest, it is relatively easy to introduce young students to the value of natural diet and consideration of avoiding killing of animals for food but it is not wise to emphasise the latter because of the necessity to respect their parents and the values in their home as not many homes have kitchens that are vegetarian.
There will be a natural inclination towards eating food that will build good health and a fine physique or a beautiful body and vanity helps sometimes to undertake what seems a difficult discipline or motivation toward changing habits.
These years however are of extreme importance in developing the intellectual powers and learning memory skills, exercising imagination and strengthening powers of concentration.
How to help these faculties is the demand made upon the yoga teacher who uses the time honoured techniques of classical Yoga.
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Yoga-for-the-Young&id=8971481] Yoga for the Young
CHILDREN
Naturally any teaching must require certain modification and a selection of techniques that are most appropriate for the benefit of students of any age group and the practices of the traditional disciplines of Yoga are no exception.
For ease in teaching it is desirable for students to be grouped according to age as in other educational systems. This may be ideal, but is not always possible and requires a certain number of students for this type of segregation. Separation of boys and girls in early years of say 3 years to 7 years is not usually necessary. Beyond this age is different.
Although general classes of children of various ages may be established, students will not be completely at ease unless with others of about the same age and it is worthwhile to consider a small nucleus class that will in time increase.
The teaching of Hatha Yoga is based upon the complementary character and interaction of electro-magnetic energies of nature that influence and maintain a balance in our physical and psychological health. The understanding of the pranas or positive and negative energies is fundamental in the philosophy and the practices related to the breath.
Read Also : Yoga For Men Starters Guide
We all exist and function through the balancing of these natural forces and their natural expression through either male or female personalities, with the male to have the positive of Sun energies dominant and the female having the opposite Moon energies uppermost. In a subtle way these energies function by subconscious processes. In a more direct way, they are affected by our minds and state of consciousness.
It is as important for a boy to have an image of what he would wish to become in developing his manhood. Apart from his father as a role model, he needs to develop his own self image for the future - one based upon the warmth, strength, generosity and outgoing power that has the Sun as its symbol. Just as important it is that a girl follows the example of her mother as well as learning to develop the female virtues of gentleness, grace and sensitivity of an ideal woman symbolised by the Moon. This symbolism provides anchorage for establishing their values and influencing their behaviour.
The physical exercises in Hatha Yoga for boys are aimed at developing strength and will as those for girls concentrates upon flexibility and graceful movement. Both must learn the general exercises of traditional movements that develop full freedom of movement as well as muscular tone.
TEENAGE YEARS
Teenagers, that is those from 13 - 17 years of age, have already been influenced by their home life, school life and the example of their peers to the extent that they often are so confident as to not be easily receptive to new ideas and will be more focussed upon the physical cultural aspects at commencement of their classes. However, by the wonderful benefits of relaxation practice they learn to release stress. By stillness of the mind and body in easy meditation they find the key to better concentration and discover a sense of their individual power to direct their lives and perhaps discover an increasing interest in philosophy.
Because of the importance of self discovery and self interest, it is relatively easy to introduce young students to the value of natural diet and consideration of avoiding killing of animals for food but it is not wise to emphasise the latter because of the necessity to respect their parents and the values in their home as not many homes have kitchens that are vegetarian.
There will be a natural inclination towards eating food that will build good health and a fine physique or a beautiful body and vanity helps sometimes to undertake what seems a difficult discipline or motivation toward changing habits.
These years however are of extreme importance in developing the intellectual powers and learning memory skills, exercising imagination and strengthening powers of concentration.
How to help these faculties is the demand made upon the yoga teacher who uses the time honoured techniques of classical Yoga.
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Yoga-for-the-Young&id=8971481] Yoga for the Young
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