We are all living a fast-paced life, and it’s important to slow down a bit. It is essential to make time for ourselves and take care of our mind and body. Having stability in mind and body is necessary, and it can be achieved in many ways; one of the most effective and renowned ways is practising restorative yoga. It is a relaxing form of yoga that helps heal the body from the inside.
Restorative yoga involves practising passive stretching. It helps your body to rest as an outside force helps the practitioner to stretch. While holding the pose, the practitioner needs to focus on their breath. Most of the restorative yoga postures are held for 5 to 20 minutes. In this practise, the posture is held for a longer duration using a support like a blanket, stretching belts or yoga blocks. Restorative yoga can be practised by beginners and even advanced level practitioners. The postures help relax the body, and as the body relaxes, the mind starts relaxing too.
Benefits of practising restorative yoga
There are several benefits of practising restorative yoga, below mentioned are a few of the most important ones.
- Restorative yoga is benign for your body. Practising regularly will strengthen your joints and the connective tissues around the joints
- This yoga form helps reduce pain in ligaments, muscles, nerves, bones, and tendons. It is the best yoga for back pain
- Yoga has proven to aid stress, anxiety. Practising yoga will enhance your quality of life by improving the mood on a regular basis
- Improve physical health by keep away from chronic diseases
- Scientific researches have proven that yoga increases the melatonin level in our body, which is a hormone that is responsible for controlling the sleep-wake cycle. The more relaxed you are, the better your sleep will be. Healthy sleep is vital to have a fully functioning life
- Restorative yoga calms our nervous system aligning mind, body and soul. Practitioners need to focus on their breath. Restorative yoga is the best and inexpensive way to heal and relax your body
Why are props used in restorative yoga?
To achieve the benefits of restorative yoga, it is crucial to hold the posture for a longer time. Maintaining a posture without support for 5 minutes or more can be stressful, and it’s really difficult for the practitioners to be able to relax while holding the pose. That is why props are used so that the practitioner can support themselves and maintain the posture as long as they want. As the main goal is to relax in that posture.
Asanas to practice for restorative yoga
- Supported Corpse Pose (Savasana)
- Supported Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose (Viparita Karani)
- Reclined Twist (Supta Matsyendrasana) with Support
- Supported Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)
- Child’s Pose (Balasana) with Support.
Prolonged exposure to a stressful period can lead to adverse health effects. After a full stressed day, get your yoga mat and hold these postures for 5-20 minutes to release the stress and exhaustion from your body. It is vital to get rid of all the stress in your body because it releases cortisol hormone. A high amount of cortisol hormone in the body disrupts the digestive system, degrades the immune system.
Restorative yoga is fascinating as you can enjoy meditative postures. Many health extremities can be easily avoided by incorporating restorative yoga in our daily life. Practice 3 to 5 posture (Initially set a timer for 5 to 10 minutes, with regular exercise, you can slowly increase the time to 15 to 20 minutes). Enrol for an online yoga class. Just have patience and observe the fruits of stillness.