Yoga Workout
Elizabeth Henshall asked:
How not to do a Yoga Workout
Sometimes it is the wrong time of your life to go for the burn! Yoga workouts are great when you are feeling strong and healthy and they really help you keep fit. However doing a workout when you are less than healthy or if you have been injured or have some stress related illness is not a good idea. Doing any kind of workout when your body is not strong enough and your immune system is overloaded actually weakens it even more.
However there is a way you can do Yoga even when you feel below par. Yoga is a wonderfully diverse approach to exercise and there is a ‘Yoga style’ for everyone. What people find hard is choosing which is right for them since they tend not to know what is on offer. Recent additions to the Yoga stable of styles are Restorative Yoga and Yin Yoga. Each approach works well in conjunction with other Yoga styles but as standalone approaches they specifically help particular people.
Restorative Yoga works wonderfully if you are ill, injured, burnt out or severely stressed or recovering from a chronic severe illness. It is a way of doing yoga that is very supportive and does not challenge the body in any way. It is designed to place no strain at all on an overworked body yet to also unlock the body’s own healing powers. Postures are held with the help of props and students are taught how to breathe correctly and meditate while their bodies are completely supported. This combination enables the body to refresh and heal very gently and is my strong recommendation for you if you feel fragile yet would like to do something to help yourself.
Yin Yoga is for people who are well but who are in their forties or older. Yin Yoga works with the connective tissue. It irrigates those tissues and joints which tend to dry and seize up as we get older so that our synovial fluid (the fluid that helps the bones in joints glide over one rather than rasping or grating on one another) increases. It also brings pliability and flexibility to the tissue of our body other than our muscles. Other styles of Yoga work well on muscles building strength but the older we get the more we need a balance between active strength building and more flowing moistening and loosening movement. Yin is a gentle practice like Restorative but it is very specifically meant for people who need to loosen rather than for people who are ill.
Pick your style. Read up about the different approaches and try a few classes. There will be a style for you and a teacher for you. Keep looking until you find the winning combination and you will find that the practice of Yoga really improves your quality of life, the quality of your sleep, the way you handle stressors and the fitness of your body. Enjoy.
Create a video blog…instantly.
How not to do a Yoga Workout
Sometimes it is the wrong time of your life to go for the burn! Yoga workouts are great when you are feeling strong and healthy and they really help you keep fit. However doing a workout when you are less than healthy or if you have been injured or have some stress related illness is not a good idea. Doing any kind of workout when your body is not strong enough and your immune system is overloaded actually weakens it even more.
However there is a way you can do Yoga even when you feel below par. Yoga is a wonderfully diverse approach to exercise and there is a ‘Yoga style’ for everyone. What people find hard is choosing which is right for them since they tend not to know what is on offer. Recent additions to the Yoga stable of styles are Restorative Yoga and Yin Yoga. Each approach works well in conjunction with other Yoga styles but as standalone approaches they specifically help particular people.
Restorative Yoga works wonderfully if you are ill, injured, burnt out or severely stressed or recovering from a chronic severe illness. It is a way of doing yoga that is very supportive and does not challenge the body in any way. It is designed to place no strain at all on an overworked body yet to also unlock the body’s own healing powers. Postures are held with the help of props and students are taught how to breathe correctly and meditate while their bodies are completely supported. This combination enables the body to refresh and heal very gently and is my strong recommendation for you if you feel fragile yet would like to do something to help yourself.
Yin Yoga is for people who are well but who are in their forties or older. Yin Yoga works with the connective tissue. It irrigates those tissues and joints which tend to dry and seize up as we get older so that our synovial fluid (the fluid that helps the bones in joints glide over one rather than rasping or grating on one another) increases. It also brings pliability and flexibility to the tissue of our body other than our muscles. Other styles of Yoga work well on muscles building strength but the older we get the more we need a balance between active strength building and more flowing moistening and loosening movement. Yin is a gentle practice like Restorative but it is very specifically meant for people who need to loosen rather than for people who are ill.
Pick your style. Read up about the different approaches and try a few classes. There will be a style for you and a teacher for you. Keep looking until you find the winning combination and you will find that the practice of Yoga really improves your quality of life, the quality of your sleep, the way you handle stressors and the fitness of your body. Enjoy.
Create a video blog…instantly.
October 28th, 2011 in
Yoga | tags: Healing Powers, Immune System, Pliability, Postures, Props, Restorative Yoga, Synovial Fluid, Workouts