Benefits of Inversions in Yoga: Inversion Helps Improve Circulation The cardiovascular system is your body’s transportation system, carrying food and oxygen to your body’s cells. It also retrieves blood from your legs and lower torso, carrying it upwards against the force of gravity. Inversion allows your body to work with gravity to ease the circulation process. Calms the mind and relieves stress A full body stretch upside down can be rejuvenating and help the body to effectively relax. A study conducted by physiotherapist LJ Nose found that EMG activity (a measure of muscle tension) declined over 35% within ten seconds of inverting. Showing how helpful inversions can be in relieving the tension and pain in your muscles that is often caused by stress. Reduce Pain in Overworked Muscles Athletes prone to stiffness or sore muscles after a workout can benefit from the lymphatic wash provided by inversion. The lymphatic system has no pump, putting the body upside down helps speed up the process of removing waste from the body. Strengthens Ligaments Ligaments are flexible but not very elastic. They can tear when stretched too much. The gentle reverse loading and movement that occurs while you invert strengthens ligaments and connective tissue. Can Reduce Shrinking Most people will lose from 1/2 inch – 2 inches in height during their lifetime because of thinning discs. As a baby, your discs are 90% water. The water content in the discs decreases to 70% by age 70. An active inversion program can help maintain more of your original height. Improve Balance and Body Awareness Inversion helps to develop balance awareness, which occurs when the upper regions of the inner ear are stimulated. Enhance ability to concentrate and remain focused Inversions help increase oxygen flow to the brain, which consumes 25 percent of the body’s oxygen’s intake. More Benefits of Inversions: Cardiovascular: Flipping upside down encourages delivery of fresh blood to your heart, which provides more efficient circulation. It is similar to what aerobics may offer. These positions are also said to improve lung tissue quality. Being upright the majority of your day causes the lower lung tissue to saturate with blood, but inverting will ventilate the upper lungs, ensuring a more even oxygen-to-blood exchange that promotes healthier tissue. Being upside down also increases blood flow to your head, relieving the heart of some of its duties and temporarily lowering blood pressure and heart rate. Lymphatic: Your lymphatic system, according to "Yoga Journal," is a closed pressure system with one-way valves that keep lymph moving to the heart. This system is responsible for waste removal, immune-system response and fluid balance. When your body inverts, this stimulates your lymphatic system and, in turn, strengthens your immune system. Endocrine: Your endocrine system is responsible for hormone delivery. Inversions, especially shoulder stands, are recommended for pre-menopausal and menopausal women due to the belief that the pose stimulates the thyroid and parathyroid glands, which regulates metabolism. Most inversions will stimulate your pituitary gland, which is your master gland, and promote a positive state of well-being. Nervous: Inversions may also stimulate cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF, which is the juice of the central nervous system that flows from the brain to the spinal cord. In headstand, the top of the skull experiences pressure that could promote elasticity in the cranial bones, thus increasing the production of CSF to the ventricles of the brain, according to "Yoga Journal." Back Relief: Years of gravity's pull and spinal compression often wreak havoc on people's backs, creating pain that most cannot explain. Inverting can be a natural way of counteracting the pull of gravity.
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Benefits of Downward Facing Dog Pose:
Benefits of Forward bends: · The forward bend postures have a massaging action on the organs in the upper body. Forward bends open up your back, promote total exhalation of air from the lungs by compressing the chest and also help to calm down your mind. · The forward bending postures bend the back to the shape it was when the body was in the womb that is also called the primary curve. This makes some space between the spinal vertebrae that improves the circulation around it and has overall beneficial effects on the body. · The nerves from all the different organs in the body pass through the spinal cord and the improved circulation benefits all of them in a great way. · The forward bend poses give an internal massage as well as improve the circulation to the various organs like the abdomen, pancreas, liver, intestines and kidneys. · They also help to lengthen and strengthen the hamstrings, muscles of the inner leg, make the muscles of the back supple and boost the strength of the legs and the knees. More Benefits:
Benefits of Backbends: · Backbends stretches the front of the abdomen, hips, thighs, shoulders and chest · By activating the abdomen, they stimulate the kidneys, reproductive, and digestive system. · The backward bending postures energize, refresh and invigorate the body- opening the chest, and encouraging proper breathing · On an anatomical level, this action stretches and releases the muscles of the chest allowing circulation to flow freely to the heart and lungs. · During the back-bend the thymus is pressured, and then released, this stimulation can aid immune function. The nervous system is stimulated, building heat and stimulating metabolism · The abdominal muscles receive a stretch, as does the digestive system · Backbends bring heat and energy to the spine. The Nervous system benefits, as Cerebral-Spinal fluids are pumped (since the body is usually in a forward bend) · Backbends realign the spine, counteracting and re-teaching the body’s poor habits and making daily movement more comfortable, lending poise and grace · Integrity of the spine creates integrity of the mind, combating depression and lethargy · By opening the chest, backbends also work with the heart center, encouraging complete expansion of the lungs. This brings vitality. More Physical Benefits:
Every day I see (with a little bit of envy I have to confess!!) how Mindfulness is becoming more and more popular. Everyone you know is talking about mindfulness and probably practising right now. And it is great. No complains! We need more of that! But (always a but, isn’t it?) I can’t understand how Yoga have lost it space as THE mindful practice of all times. Because Yoga is mindfulness!! So, how it is possible that a person that practice yoga is talking too about mindfulness as something completely different from Yoga, as something that they have to add in order to be complete, to have a better life? Yoga for the body, mindfulness for the mind and spirit What???? You can have both in the same class. Yoga and Mindfulness Yoga is Mindfulness!! Since yoga become a trend in our modern world, we (teachers, studio owners, magazines and publications, social media) have allowed the physical, the external part of the yoga take over our yoga practice. Every day we are told the physical benefits of the yoga practice or how to perform this or that pose and that is ok, nothing wrong with that. We have allowed people to believe that achieving that pose is the only thing that matter. And that is wrong! And it is driving me crazy! Focusing only on the external (the shape of the poses against the person who perform it) we are missing the very base of the yoga practice that is the connection, the union between body, mind and spirit… Pretty basic (it is the definition of Yoga for Christ sake!) and yet, we have forgotten it. Yes, there are teachers (bless them!!) out there trying to keep the real yoga flame alive, but, let’s be honest, is a minority… People is prepare to hear “mindfulness talk” in a mindfulness practice, but when you talk “mindfulness” in a yoga class people looks at you as: Ok, what is this? I came here for the stretch!! As a teacher I am falling in the same trap every day, limiting myself to focus more on the physical part, but enough is enough!! I want to do the “mindfulness talk” in my yoga classes. I am ready to talk mindfulness all the time in my classes! I invite you to do the same! Yoga deserve it! And people deserve it too! Affirmations are positive statements or self-scripts that can condition the subconscious mind to help you develop a more positive perception of yourself. Affirmations can help you to change harmful behaviours or accomplish goals, and they can also help undo the damage caused by negative scripts, those things which we repeatedly tell ourselves (or which others repeatedly tell us) that contribute to a negative self-perception. Affirmations are easy to create and use, but you'll need dedication to make them work. Think about what negative scripts you want to counteract or what positive goals you want to accomplish. Affirmations can be extremely useful to counteract negative perceptions you have developed about your appearance, your abilities, or your potential (we'll refer to these types of affirmations as "counter-scripts"). Affirmations can also help you achieve specific goals, such as losing weight or quitting smoking. Make a list of your goals or the harmful self-perceptions you want to change. Using Affirmations: Prioritize your list of things to work on. You may find that you have a lot of goals or that you need many counter-scripts. It's best, however, to concentrate on just a few affirmations at a time, so choose those that are most important or most urgent and work with those first. Once you see improvement in those areas or accomplish those goals you can develop new affirmations for other items on your list. You can try using as many affirmations as you want at any given time, but you may want to start by using no more than five. Writing and Working on your affirmations: · Start with "I," and be short, clear, and positive. Use present tense. · Write it in a way that you can feel it right for you (using words that are meaningful for you or in a way that you can believe it) · For example is you want to use “I Love myself” but you feel that you can’t believe yet, you can try: “I am willing to love myself everyday a little bit more” · Make your affirmations visible so you can use them. Repetition is the key to making affirmations effective. You want to think about your affirmations several times a day, every day. · Make a point of writing your affirmations in a journal or diary each morning when you wake up and each night before you go to sleep. Repeat the affirmations to yourself at these times, as well. · Ideally, your affirmations should be the first thing you think of when you wake up and the last before you go to sleep. · Meditate on your affirmations. Close your eyes, shut out the rest of the world, and think about your affirmations. Say and repeat the words, but think about what the words mean to you; think about the future and try to feel the emotions that the affirmations evoke. · Leave reminder cards in various places. Use 3X5 index cards or sticky notes to write your affirmations (one per card). Make several cards for each affirmation, and then leave these cards where you will see them: place one where you sit at the kitchen table, tape one to your car's steering wheel, slip one inside your desk drawer, or stick one to your computer monitor, etc. Each time you see the card, read it and think about what it means. · Carry your affirmations with you. Make a list of your affirmations and put it in your wallet or purse. If you need a pick-me-up, or if you find yourself about to waver from your goals, get out your affirmations and read them. · Continue using your affirmations. The more you affirm something, the more firmly your mind will accept it. If you are trying to accomplish a short-term goal, use your affirmations until you have accomplished it. If you simply want to use affirmations as a counter-script, use each one as long as you like. Here some examples! Love: · I love and approve myself exactly as I am // I love and accept myself exactly as I am · I am beautiful and everybody loves me · Love surrounds me and protects me · I am willing to: see my own beauty and worth to love myself exactly as I am to learn to love and accept myself · I deserve love and happiness · I deserve love and I accept it now · I attract only loving, caring people into my life · I forgive and I am forgiven · As I learn to love myself I find it easier to forgive/love/to feel appreciated. Prosperity and Abundance: · I deserve the best and I accept it now · I am open to receive · I open and receptive to all the good that life have to offer · Life/Universe/God provides me with everything I need · I trust that life protects me and brings me everything I need Trust: · Life/Universe/God supports me and guide me · I am always protected and safe · All is well · All is well in my life · Everything is working out for my highest good · I trust life/Universe/God to take care of me · I let go and I trust. I am free · I trust in the process of life Fear: · I now release myself from all pain, hurt and rejection in my past. I am free · I have nothing to fear · Whatever happens I can handle it Health: · I am healthy, loved and completed · My healing is already in process Confidence and Self Esteem: · I am confident // I believe in myself and my abilities · I am strong, powerful and confident // I move through life with confidence and ease · I trust myself // I am good enough, I am more than good enough · My good comes from everywhere and everyone // My income is constantly increasing · My work is fulfilling and I am appreciated // I open new doors to life · Wonderful new opportunities opening up for me You are always, always loved and protected. You are good enough. You deserve to live a wonderful life and so it is… Yoga poses, deep relaxation and breathing can help reduce the high muscle tone that is characteristic of most children with a physical disability as well as help children with intellectual disabilities to release pent up anger and frustrations. Children with disabilities often experience muscular problems which can lead to a lack of sleep, among other issues. Yoga poses are designed to enhance the natural development of children with special needs and gives the muscles and tendons a relaxing stretch, releasing overall stress and tightness throughout the muscle structure and around the joints. Yoga is about connecting the mind, body and soul and by these three aspects working together, balance and alignment is brought to our human nature. Conventional methods have always treated the body or the mind, whereas, alternative methods like yoga treat all three elements. Without addressing the spirit nature of a child they can never be complete therefore the mind, body and soul connection is imperative to children with special needs. Yoga is an effective therapy that aides children with disabilities in developing greater concentration, cognitive and motor skills as well as reducing hyperactivity. Breathing and exercises eliminates excess phlegm and strengthens the respiratory system. By doing diaphragmatic and belly breathing, the digestive system is improved and constipation is relieved. Some other benefits of yoga include: • Easing stiff joints and tight and tone muscles • Muscle atrophy (wasting) caused by forced inactivity can be delayed • Promotes relaxation, physically and psychologically • The body’s metabolism improves • Improves the quality of your child’s everyday life • Allows a normal pattern of movement to resume • A great sense of well-being and renewed sense of confidence within your child can be produced Benefits of Yoga for Kids with Autism: 1. Yoga develops motor skills. Kids with autism frequently experience delayed motor development, which can be improved as yoga tones muscles, enhances balance and stability, and develops body awareness and coordination. As motor skills develop, children have a greater sense of their physical self in space and in relation to others, and can improve their gait and stability. This leads to… 2. Yoga improves confidence and social skills. Poor coordination often yields low self-esteem as kids may be singled out or teased for not moving or behaving like other children, or not excelling in sports and outdoor activities. By learning self-control and self-calming techniques through yoga, they are likely to grow confidence in interacting with other children and refine their social skills. Learning to work together in a yoga class and playing with partner poses can also increase confidence within group settings. 3. Yoga provides sensory integration. Children with autism often suffer from a highly sensitive nervous system and are easily over stimulated by bright lights, new textures, loud noises, strong tastes and smells. Yoga’s natural setting of dim lights, soft music, smooth mats, and “inside” voices creates a comforting environment largely protected from unknown or aggressive stimuli in which calming down becomes enjoyable. Yoga’s physical poses allow nervous energy to be released from the body in a controlled manner, also leading to a calming sensation. Less stimulation means less uncontrollable behavior, outbursts and repetitive nervous movements – which is further enhanced by… 4. Yoga provides coping techniques to both kids and parents. Whether teaching the child breathing techniques for self-calming, talking the class through a guided visualization the child can use when getting anxious, or sharing flashcards of the day’s poses with parents to use at home, yoga provides an awesome toolbox to parents and siblings. It is a transportable practice that both parents and kids can draw from for a lifetime and share a meaningful home activity. 5. Yoga facilitates self-awareness. Yoga is particularly instrumental in helping kids with autism learn self-regulation. By becoming aware of their bodies and aware of their breathing, yoga provides them with the ability to cope when they start to feel anxious or upset. Yoga poses or breathing techniques specifically intended to help children contend with their escalating emotions. 6. Yoga engages the emotional brain. We all know that yoga is far from purely physical, and this combination of movement, music, breath work and story telling activates the brain’s emotional region. This encourages children to develop awareness of their emotions and those of others, as well as keeps their attention in the class. Music is another powerful tool that the yoga instructor can share with parents to use at home to recreate the environment of a yoga class. - See more at: http://www.yogafitness.ie/yoga-for-special-needs-teens.html#sthash.Fx94CcnA.dpuf |
Claudia Gutierrez
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Yoga Fitness BlogI am Claudia Gutierrez, owner of Yoga Fitness, originally from Argentina and proudly Irish Citizen since 2012. Archives
November 2021
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