restorative yoga

  Photos from August 2007: Assisting at Judith's Advanced Restorative Teacher Training in San Francisco.  

These poses are restorative variations...playing and exploring.

The Practice of Restorative Yoga 

Most recently my yoga teaching has drawn on my own exploration of Restorative Yoga, and trainings I have done  with Judith Lasater. It is a subtle and powerful practice, that can leave you feeling both nurtured and invigorated. We have restorative workshops at The San Francisco Buddhist Center 4 times a year, to mark the solstices and the equinoxes.

The following is how my teacher, Judith Lasater , describes the practice of Restorative Yoga in her book "Relax and Renew:Restful Yoga for Stressful Times".  More information can also be found at The Restorative Yoga website .

"Restorative yoga poses are 'active relaxation'. By supporting the body with props, we alternately stimulate and relax the body to move toward balance. Some poses have an overall benefit. Others target an individual part, such as the lungs or heart. All create specific physiological responses which are beneficial to health and can reduce the effects of stress-related disease.

Restorative poses are generally for the times we feel weak, fatigued, or stressed from your daily activities. They are especially beneficial for the times before, during, and after major life events: death of a loved one, change of job or residence, marriage, divorce, major holidays, and vacations. In addition, you can practice the poses when ill, or recovering from illness or injury. 

First, Restorative poses help relieve the effects of chronic stress in several ways. The use of props provides a completely supportive environment for total relaxation.

Second, each restorative sequence is designed to move the spine in all directions. These movements illustrate the age-old wisdom of yoga that teaches well-being is enhanced by a healthy spine. Some of the restorative poses are backbends, while others are forward bends. Additional poses gently twist the column both left and right.

Third, a well-sequenced restorative practice also includes an inverted pose, which reverses the effects of gravity. This can be as simple as putting the legs on a bolster or pillow, but the effects are quite dramatic. Because we stand or sit most of the day, blood and lymph fluid accumulate in the lower extremities. By changing the relationship of the legs to gravity, fluids are returned to the upper body and heart function is enhanced.

 Psycholiologist and Yoga Teacher Roger Cole, consultant to the University of California, San Diego, in sleep research and biological rhythms, has done preliminary research on the effects of inverted poses. He found that they dramatically alter hormone levels, thus reducing brain arousal, blood pressure, and fluid retention. He attributes these benefits to a slowing of the heart rate and dilation of the blood vessels in the upper body that comes from reversing the effects of gravity.

Fourth, restorative yoga alternatively stimulates and soothes the organs. For example, by closing the abdomen with a forward bend and then opening it with a backbend, the abdominal organs are squeezed, forcing the blood out, and then opened, so that fresh blood returns to soak the organs. With this movement of blood comes the enhanced exchange of oxygen and waste products across the cell membrane.

Finally, yoga teachers that the body is permeated with energy. Prana, the masculine energy, resides above the diaphragm, moves upward, and controls respiration and heart rate. Apana, the feminine energy, resides below the diaphragm, moves downward, and controls the function of the abdominal organs. Restorative yoga balances these two aspects of energy so that the practitioner is neither overstimulated nor depleted."