Relieving deep exhaustion with yoga

As I lay in the Big Relax last Saturday, I began to let go. I had begun the session by leaping up to assist Cherise, helping students to set up their blankets in that wonderful art of blanket origami that is a part of the art of restorative yoga.  Then I began to recognize what I had not been taking time to acknowledge.  I felt deeply exhausted.  I began to settle into the practice. soaking up the deep relaxation of just being. It may sound odd but after two hours of restorative I still felt really tired.  I listened to this, I went home, had dinner, did no more work that day, and had an early night. And woke enormously refreshed.

This all happened after a week during which I had been pushing myself to take advantage of every waking hour to do more.

I have a friend who had an extremely high pressure, powerful but stressful position; and then she stepped back from it.  Discussing that later I asked her how she was finding it.  She told me that as she took on more and more she hardly noticed the increasing pressure.  Like the proverbial live frog in the pot in which the temperature is rising who doesn't jump out, she had simply absorbed.  "Now I have stopped" she said,  "I am exhausted.  I didn't know how exhausted, until I stopped."

The lesson is that we do not always recognize the symptoms of our deep exhaustion until it erupts as illness. But we can be wise and take steps to give our body and mind the true rest it needs.

This is what restorative yoga does. We support the body really well, and feeling that support, the body can finally relax. When the body relaxes, so can the mind and all of our organs and all of our cells can be flushed and refreshed with blood.

Donna Farhi, writing in Yoga, Body, Mind and Spirit said it more eloquently.

"In a restorative posture that has been well propped, one feels absolutely comfortable with no intense stretching sensations. Don’t mistake this, however, with a mild result. It is the graduated nature of the position that will allow you to stay for much longer periods of time than you might normally if you were practicing a posture more actively. This longer stay allows the key organs and glands to become drenched with revitalizing blood. Because the action reaches deep into the nervous system, the practice of these postures can dismantle chronic tension patterns, improve immune function, and bring the body and mind back to their original state of equilibrium."

We can learn from the suggestion of Judith Hanson Lassiter, author of Relax and Renew, "practice at least one restorative pose every day, at least one full session of restorative yoga every week, and one full week a year doing nothing but restorative yoga".

If you attend classes and learn restorative yoga from a good teac her you will learn to finesse your setting up to attain "impeccable standards of comfort" (Neal Ghoshal). But here is one pose you can always rely on.  It doesn't need a lot of props and you can do it almost anywhere.

Easy Rest, or Constructive Rest position is a pose you can do for ten minutes every day. Lie on your back on the floor and feel the spine laid along the floor.  Bend the knees and rest your feet on the floor. The fussiness in this restorative pose comes in the exact positioning of the feet. They should be hip width apart, with the weight evenly distributed underneath them. so sense the weight under the feet. try lifting them up and putting them back down again and sensing that weight beneath them.  If they are too close the weight will be more in the toes. If they are too far away the weight will come into the heels. If the feet are too wide, the knees will want to collapse inward, if they are too narrow the knees will want to collapse outwards. So shift the feet around a little and find that just right position.

You might find that your body greets this position with a deep "Yes". Close the eyes over and just rest here, watching your breath, for ten minutes.

To come up, roll over to your side and stay there awhile and then come up giving weight into your hips, supporting yourself with your hands and let your head arrive last.

(Picture credits: Babbling brook - http://www.yogaforgriefsupport.com/blog/restorative-yoga
Constructive Rest position - http://www.coreawareness.com/articles/the-one-muscle-that-does-not-need-strengthening/)

Restorative Yoga - why it is an essential part of yoga practice

Article first published in the Yoga Spirit Studios newsletter on 1 March 2012

Our modern life is full of stresses, and our mind and spirit steadily become more wound up. I have noticed a trend these days towards a market place demand for more and more power yoga - yoga done fast and furious, working up a sweat, as if yoga were just another aerobic exercise regime.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a regular aerobic workout to get the heart pumping and to build fitness. In fact it is highly recommended for most people. However, to me the practice of yoga is so much more; it offers an opportunity to move out of the stress response and into a more wholesome relationship with myself and the world. It also opens and stretches the body, but for that the practice needs to slow down a bit.

Restorative yoga really comes into its own in this regard. Practiced with the assistance of props to allow the body to slowly open in a long held position, restorative yoga switches the autonomic nervous system on to the parasympathetic - that aspect where we relax and de-stress.

At least one session of restorative practice is recommended per week in your yoga regime. More good news is that it is so wonderfully yummy that it is easy to love, and it can be practised by beginners as easily as more advanced students.

It is also a very good idea to become familiar with restorative practice so that at times of stress or ill health in our lives, we have the tools to turn to for powerful help and healing.

Having blankets, bolsters and other props at home so that you can practise there is a very good idea, but to learn the art of restorative practice it is advised to join a master teacher in restorative work. At Yoga Spirit Studios we are blessed at Yoga Spirit to have Vanessa teaching this beautiful healing yoga every Wednesday evening at 7.30 pm in the studio room. If you haven't tried it yet, please treat yourself to a regular class with her and learn how to really take care of yourself. And once a quarter you can join a longer, two hour practice at our Big Relax.

Let yoga support you through winter

Here it is, the depths of winter. This is a season when the body can be attacked by a myriad of cold and flu bugs. A robust immune system is called for, and fortunately yoga can help.

  

If you do succumb to a cold, be very gentle with yourself.  Do not go for vigorous practice; instead treat yourself to restorative practices to give the body a chance to recover. 20 minutes in Viparita Karani might be just what the doctor ordered.

  

But what can be done to prevent illness  in the first place?

  

Simply by de-stressing, the body has more opportunity to fight disease. How often has it been that you fell sick just when you were most busy or run down? Allow yourself the time to be gentle and reflective in your practice; time to practice restorative poses; time for meditation; time to find that place in yourself that allows you to cope with life's vicissitudes with greater calm.

  

Don't neglect the more vigourous practises in the balance however. A strong cardio vascular system built of repetitions of the sun salutations, and muscular strength established through stronger practices such as held standing poses will always assist your overall health. These practices are also wonderfully warming, to help get you through winter days.

  

Practices that focus on the heart chakra such as chest opening back bends can help to bring balance and vigour to the thymus gland, a regulator of the immune response. Chest opening also assists in the clear passage of breath, improving lung health and assisting in the oxygenation of the blood, essential for the health of all of our tissues.

  

Inversions can stimulate the endocrine system, and clear sinuses. An inversion is any pose where the head is lower than the heart, so Downward Facing Dog, Bridge Pose and Viparita Karani (legs up the wall pose) qualify.

  

Pranayama (breathing) practices will also improve lung function, and practising some more vigorous routines will warm the body, and encourage good breathing as well.

Undertaking all the meditative practices that strengthen the energy body will also boost your ability to "digest" whatever comes your way, strengthening the immune system. So work with the subtle body, with the pranic channels, and energy centres. If you need to find out more about these practices, come and work with me.

(Adapted and enlarged from an article first published in "On the Mat", the monthly newsletter of Yoga Spirit Studios.)