You may already know that Restorative Yoga is a healing practice that assists people in dissolving their stress and increasing your flexibility. It accomplishes this by not doing pretzel poses that people paste on themselves. Instead, in restorative, you are totally held and supported by Mother Earth. Restorative Yoga uses props such as blankets, blocks, and bolsters (and many more!) to hold your body and relax your busy mind. You don’t need any fancy bolster, you can create these props with things everyone has around the house. Restoring your health is as easy as laying down in relaxing poses? Hell, YES! Busy bees need rest and relaxation to restore their busy bodies. The cherry on top of this beyond lovely practice is that you will lose more weight than if you clobbered your body in a vigorous exercise routine. Gee, I can lose just as much weight by just relaxing my tired body? YES, YOU CAN! Plus, you can do this in the privacy, peace and safety of your own home.
OK, don’t believe me? A scientific study was done to research this by the National Institutues of Health, led by researcher Maria G. Araneta, PhD, MPH, of the University of California, San Diego. The study found that it also helps people lose subcutaneous fat. What is subcutaneous fat? News to me too!
Subcutaneous fat is the fat stored just beneath your skin. Pinch your skin with your thumb and forefinger and you will be pinching subcutaneous fat. Visceral fat is the fat stored around your internal organs on the inside of your muscle wall. Subcuaneous fat actually pads your organs, tissues and bones. Everyone has some of this fat.
The study was completed over a 48-week period. One control group did a restorative practice and the other did a routine of stretching exercises. The restorative group lost 2.5 times more weight than the sweaty Betty’s! Wow! Where do I sign up. I get to relax and lose more weight with so much less effort. How can this be🤔
It is proposed/theory that the stress hormone, cortisol, is responsible for this blessing of a phenomenon. Gee, I can relax and lose weight and maintain my sanity at the same time? YES! These cortisol levels are known to make us gain weight. Where, you may ask? The region called our beautiful bellies that we don’t like to talk about! We already knew that a yoga practice can decrease the amount of the stress hormone (cortisol levels) in your body. Now, we can feel good about relaxing our bodies in a gentle loving way with restorative yoga, and process through the anxiety and stressors of everyday modern life by just laying there. Sign me up! You mean I don’t have to paste on a pretzel pose on my already tired body after a long day at work? After all, yoga poses should adjust to your beautiful body/form, not the other way around!
Something as simple as a cozy nest you create for yourself with all your homemade props handy and in even 5 short minutes you are releasing that pesky cortisol levels flowing down the stream out of your Beautiuful LIfe as the number on the scale drops! Restorative poses can take from 3-10 minutes each depending on what your body needs are.
My absolute favorite pose is legs up the wall. Dim the lights of your restorative resting room. The only props you need are a wall, couch or ottoman to put your legs up on, and a light blanket. This is actually an inversion, like a headstand. This draws those nurturing red blood cells into your body — flooding each of your cells and rejuvenating them. Instead of getting red in the face, you get to just lay there!
Your only job is to simply let go of everything and relax into this gentle pose. Cover yourself with a light blanket. Place your hands palm up to receive or place them on your Beautiful Heart. Feel the ground of Mother Earth come up to meet your tired body. Feel her embrace you and hold you in safety. Say to yourself. “I am safe; everything is fine.” Key into that Mother Earth Energy and draw it into your body with 3 complete deep breaths. Remind yourself on the exhale that you are releasing all that is not yours to Mother Earth for recycling/reclamation purposes. Say a simple Thank You to Mother Earth for this healing process. Holding onto other people’s energies will never ever serve you. Time to let go of all that is not yours. Stay in this pose from five to fifteen minutes. Relishing in this sweet release, and make sure to validate yourself for taking the time to take care of yourself in such a loving gentle way. You are more than worth it! Give yourself affirmative self-validation for taking the time to take care of yourself. Three pats on the back at least!
My favorite additional prop to any restorative pose is my silk eye mask. My mask also contains the scent of lavender which is so chillaxing! In addition, you’re giving yourself the loving care of aromatherapy! The eye mask in itself is a form of self care for me. It’s luxurious, smells so lovely, and the natural silk feels so good against my skin. Not only that, it is weighted and my eyes relax more easily into the pose. When you relax your face, your whole body follows suit and relaxes with it. Spirit, Mind, and Body are all refreshed and renewed
Experiment with just this pose, and see the difference in you body and mindset attitude in just those precious moments where you honor yourself for all the sharing and giving of your light and love you give to others every single day. This is filling that bucket of love for yourself so you can share with others. Validation and care of the Self is one of the essential keys to a contented mind and True Peace.
Self-Care=Self-Respect=Self-Love
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Lose Weight With Restorative Yoga