How Yoga Can Improve Your Health

YOGA AND AYURVEDA FOR GREAT OVERALL HEALTH AND AGING!

Marquette, MI – Relaxation and deep breathing are the most beneficial part of a yoga practice in terms of overall health and well-being.   Most yoga classes incorporate deep breathing and some relaxation even in the power yoga sessions.  Ayurveda, the healthcare side of yoga will also suggest some of the same techniques of breathing and relaxationfor almost every case.

Stress is now believed to be the culprit of 75-90 percent of all doctor visits.  Physical, emotional, and environmental stress wreak havoc on our entire energetic systems.  Ayurveda healing deals with the 3 Doshas of energetic systems within each person and works on rebalancing a person’s energetics with diet and lifestyle.

yoga breathing meditation

Modern research by Dr. Ralph LaForge of Duke University at ACSM’s Conference in Reno, Nev., in 2001, stated, “that after studying over 300 articles on the health benefits of hatha yoga,  the most important parts of a yoga class for overall health and well-being are breath and savasana.” He also taught that just 30-40 seconds of deep belly breathing can eliminate or reduce all physiological symptoms of stress. Given the number of doctor visits believed to be stress-related, this is a simple and highly beneficial technique we can do anytime, anywhere.

Restorative Yoga is a style of yoga that supports the body in deep relaxation and passive stretching.  This helps us to “rest and digest” by helping us to learn to relax — invoking a relaxation response (parasympathetic nervous system).  Insomnia and digestive dysfunction are common symptoms of stress.  In Ayurveda we work with diet to help relieve digestive issues and lifestyle habits incorporating particular yoga poses and breathing to help find relief.

Extensive research in yoga shows the following benefits:

• Lowers stress hormones
• Increases arousal from the drowsy state
• Lowers blood pressure
• Helps in relieving pain
• Increases motivation and productivity
• Improves decision making
• Lowers anxiety and irritability
• Promotes healthy digestion
• Deeply relaxes the body,
• invokes Relaxation Response and its benefits
• Stills the mind and improves healthy sleep, relieving symptoms of insomnia
• Improves capacity for healing and balancing energy
• Boosts the immune system
• Develops qualities of compassion and understanding toward others and self
• Enhances mood states, relieving symptoms of mild-moderate depression
• Due to many of the above benefits it can even enhance fertility

This man has achieved good flexibility but every yoga pose can be modified to accommodate different body types and abilities!

Yoga can work for many different types of bodies.  Saying that you need to BE FLEXIBLE to go to yoga is a poor excuse! Yoga can be started at any time is a person’s life. While for some a Power Yoga class may seem like the way to go, that may not be the best class depending on the amount of stress a person has endured during the work day.

For some people the power class is just what is needed to help get out of a tamasic (dull,depressed) state.  For most people their needs change daily or seasonally.  However, the restorative effects of yoga should never be overlooked, no matter what age.  Sometimes slowing down the practice, going deeper in poses, and just feeling the restorative power and breathing does wonders for the body.

Because of the amount of electronics we live with and the speed of information taken in through all our senses, slowing down can be beneficial for everyone. Do not underestimate the amount of stimulation youngsters get on a daily basis.  What is all that stimuli doing to the young brains? That is a whole other article!

When a person is experiencing stress (SNS sympathetic nervous system is over stimulated), the following systems get shut down:

• Digestion
• Elimination
• Growth
• Repair
• Reproduction

Restorative and other energetically balanced forms of yoga activate the parasympathetic nervous system.  Stimulating the PNS helps to lower heart rate, blood pressure; stimulation of the immune system, and keeping the hormone and neurotransmitters operating together more balanced. When these systems gets out of whack, or when the sympathetic nervous system gets over-stimulated, the PNS helps to bring all back in balance.

According to Ayurveda, the imbalances of a persons individual dosha can produce toxins in body that can be the start of chronic degenerative diseases.  Thus, forms of relaxation such as yoga and meditation that help to stimulate the PNS are generally beneficial for overall body health.

Mary Connor, MS, ALC, ERYT500.

Article about the Marquette Yoga Center

by Mary Connor

I started yoga 12 years ago taking a short level one, YogaFit training. This was just to add CEU for my Fitness Leader Certification. I realized at that first class that YOGA was my calling. Being one of the early teachers in the Upper Peninsula and Marquette area, introducing Yoga to the community took hard work and lots of classes at a real discounted rate. I held classes in the Sports Rack LTD. for about 5 years ,eventually running out of room it was time to open up the Marquette Yoga Center. The studio was for myself and other certified teachers to have a nice quiet space to teach . I am about to finish my ERYT-500. Eryt 500 is a high level but realizing yoga is a long journey. I will continue to get education in the many faceted branches of Yoga. My love for teaching yoga as a form of Mind, Body Fitness, and wellness will help, heal, work, strengthen, stretch, balance peoples lives, and just feel good.

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