Yoga can provide mothers with obvious and unexpected benefits for the mind, body and spirit. One of the main reasons why every mom should do yoga is because it provides her with emotional and physical balance and self-acceptance. There are several types of yoga, but today we will focus on restorative yoga.
What is restorative yoga? This is a therapeutic style of yoga that involves using props to get into certain poses more easily, allowing you to completely surrender to the pose. This practice is not physically challenging and does not require you to quickly move from one position to another, but rather encourages you to stay in a certain pose for an extended period of time.
This form of yoga will encourage busy moms to slow down, heal and reflect. Instead of focusing on physically difficult poses, restorative yoga emphasizes simple stretches. You will learn to practice stillness, center your breathing and body, and hold certain poses for long periods of time. Staying in a certain pose for as long as you are comfortable will help you achieve a state of relaxation.
Like any type of yoga, you can choose to work either your entire body or a specific area. You can perform restorative yoga poses using many different props, such as pillows, blankets, chairs, straps, blocks, and bolsters. By using these accessories, you will allow your body to relax and stretch with support.
Restorative yoga is not as popular as other yoga techniques because most people opt for something more physically demanding. However, restorative yoga is far from easy (even though it may not seem like it) and offers many health benefits.
Help with weight loss
You may think that there is no way restorative yoga can help you lose weight because it is not an aerobic style of yoga, like the fast flow of vinyasa. Or maybe you’ve learned that you can only lose weight by participating in intense exercise and maintaining a healthy diet. While this is true, there are other ways to lose weight effectively. By practicing one of the calmest forms of yoga, you can significantly lose weight by reducing the stress hormone cortisol, which is associated with excess stress and excess belly fat. The National Institutes of Health study, led by researcher Maria G. Araneta, PhD, MPH, of the University of California, San Diego, found that it also helps people shed subcutaneous fat.
Restorative yoga for menopause
Restorative yoga will help reduce the effect of hormonal changes associated with menopause by balancing your endocrine system. Your poses in a therapeutic yoga class will stimulate every organ, gland, tissue and cell in your body, significantly affecting your neuroendocrine system. This will also increase oxygenated blood flow to the glands in your head and neck.
Calm the nervous system
Stress and anxiety cause our nervous systems to go into fight or flight mode. On the other hand, restorative yoga can help restore balance and calm to the nervous system. Practicing simple yoga stretches for just an hour a day will trigger the parasympathetic nervous system and bring your body into a more balanced state of rest and digestion. You should feel a sense of calm and rejuvenation when finished.
Increase flexibility
Yoga is probably best known for increasing flexibility. However, restorative yoga doesn’t rely on how flexible you can become, like some of the other more popular forms of yoga. Instead, it simply focuses on teaching you how to release tension in your body, especially in restricted areas. For this reason, restorative yoga may be the quickest way to learn how to increase your flexibility.
Recovery from injuries and illnesses
Restorative yoga is excellent for anyone recovering from a particular illness or who is partially immobile and unable to participate in more intense workouts. This form of yoga allows people with depleted strength and low energy levels to exercise. Engaging in this form of exercise will help you become more active. You’ll also benefit from faster recovery, seeing how restorative yoga will help you rest, relax and combat stress.
Restorative yoga for women with breast or ovarian cancer
According to a study published by Wake Forest University School of Medicine, restorative yoga may help slow the development of breast and ovarian cancer in patients suffering from these conditions.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18544284
Strengthen mind and body
By strengthening your mind-body connection, you will deepen your self-awareness and introspection and experience increased body awareness. With a strong mind-body connection, you will be able to access certain parts of your body and relieve those areas of tension very quickly.
Try these 7 easy-to-follow poses to relax the mind and body:
Restorative yoga sequence to relax the mind and body – Yoga Rove