Yoga is a practice that combines breath control, meditation, and movements to stretch and strengthen muscles as well as to help develop the mind. What sets yoga apart from most other “exercise programs” is that it places as great an emphasis on mental fitness as on physical fitness.

People have been doing yoga for thousands of years, all over the world.  Given its history, several types of yoga have developed The most popular form practiced in the United States is hatha yoga — of which there are numerous variations. In case you are sondering, you can be on spiritual path and still practice yoga.

Yoga has been proven to be helpful in many ways but in regard to the physical benefits, yoga can help a person learn to calm the nervous system and therefore lower physical tension, patterns of breathing and energy levels. I refer many of my clients to yoga classes to help them gain more progress in their wellness goals. One such class is Elizabeth Grey’s Yoga for Chronic Pain. According to Harvard, we can expect a variety of benefits from practicing yoga.

BENEFITS OF YOGA

• Chronic pain assistance
• Improved sleep
• Quieter breathing
• Stable blood pressure
• Reduced muscle tension
• Lower heart rate
• Slow brain wave pattern

TYPICAL YOGA SESSION

Yoga sessions usually begin with breathing exercises to relax the body and helps to free the mind of worries and distractions. If your mind begins to wander during your yoga practice, just acknowledge the thought and try and bring your mind back to your yoga practice. Breathing deeply through the nose and is a vital component of yoga. Diaphragmatic breath, which I often teach my clients during our massage session, is also often practiced during yoga. It helps to slow the mind, the heart rate and helps people feel more grounded. The session may then proceed through a series of seated, standing, and prone yoga postures. These postures are known as asanas. Some asanas are held for a few seconds to a few minutes. Holding the body correctly in the various postures and breathing into them to stretch farther is important. A good instructor will talk you through poses, will remind you how to maintain good postures, ask you to check in with yourself and may walk around the room or have a good visual to check in on each student. Don’t push your body farther than it wishes to go.Yoga should not hurt or be a competition. Stop if you feel any pain. The sessions typically end with breathing and laying on your back, resting in a pose called Savasana. (A favorite of many)

MY FAVORITE STUDIO

My favorite local yoga studio is Yoga Circle Studio in Snohomish. I like this studio for many reasons, including that there are many different instructors offering many different styles on lots of different days and times. They also have a lot of great workshops and special series classes that are specific to different goals. I encourage you to try different instructors and types of classes to find the one that fits right for you.

YOGA AND SELF-LOVE

I might add that in addition to yoga offers us another opportunity to explore the vastness of our own potential. Through yoga, you can slow down enough to harness and focus your energies and awareness to find a gentler, more loving way to be comfortable in your own skin. Yoga allows space for healing and lovingly express your self-worth. This is a process where releasing many layers of unconscious, critical self-talk takes time. You are worth the time to practice and find self-love and you are worth self-nurturing so you can be the best version of yourself and love all that you are.