Your Body & Yoga
By: Olivia BornhoftHere at Day by Day, our yoga classes are an opportunity to experience not only community, but a safe space for whole-body healing through gentle movement, meditation, and mindfulness. At the core of each of these classes, is the integration of mind, body, and spirit in order to help cultivate a sense of calm and safety within the body. From the top of our head to the pads of our feet, our whole system can find alignment within each pose, especially when we allow our bodies and minds to sink into the practice. It is in this moment that we reap benefits we never thought possible. In today’s post we will delve deeper into this space and how the benefits of yoga manifest in the body.
When you peel back the many layers of yoga practice, you find that no matter what you are doing– breathing, resting, holding a pose, your body is firmly planted against the ground, allowing the earth to hold it. So often as we go about our lives, we’re not really in our bodies, let alone noticing the rise and fall of our breathing or how it feels to have each corner of our feet on the ground. It’s in this that yoga practice is so special in that it encourages you to truly be in your body, identify the parts of you that feel imbalanced, and then help you to learn to quiet the noise and ease the tension. To be aware of all the sensations that arrive from your body and mind can be a scary prospect; however, when practiced with intention and care, you can reclaim your sense of wholeness within yourself.
As you learn to build awareness of your physical body and feel safe within that space, you also create the opportunity to acquaint yourself with the content of your mind. Through yoga, you can allow yourself to become conscious of each moment as you grant you and your body your undivided attention. When holding a pose or focusing on your breath through meditation, you can tune in to your thought patterns and feelings as they arise. You may notice that your heart is beating fast and your mind is racing and, up until that moment, you were none the wiser to the chaos within. Yoga provides a space for you to sit with these sensations and actually face them in that moment. As you sink into the pose and regulate your breath in the face of these emotions, the physical manifestation of them will begin to disperse and a sense of calm will flow through. Studies have found that the gentle movements and breathing components of yoga help to reduce stress hormones within the body and pull us out of fight, flight, or freeze responses and back into conscious awareness of ourselves.
In time, as you cultivate your yoga practice and implement its many techniques into your day to day life, you’ll notice that harnessing a state of calm comes easier to you than before. As a result, when you encounter stressful situations throughout your day, you are better able to feel your emotions, sit with them, and regulate them as they show up. Not only does this benefit your overall mood and disposition throughout the day, it also manifests within your physical body. Over time, as stress and tension release during yoga practice, other ailments can ease as well. Studies have found that consistent yoga can reduce the heart rate as well as blood pressure as yoga helps to increase the flow of oxygenated blood to all parts of the body all the while relaxing the blood vessels. This improved cardiovascular function can have a domino effect within the body, creating the potential for improved quality of sleep, digestion, and immunity.
When it comes to overall quality of life, there is so much more to be gained from yoga than strengthening and increased flexibility (even though those are great within themselves!). The healthful benefits of yoga can expand far beyond the physical. In fact, yoga practice can go so far as to unite the physical and the mind, creating a safe space for thinking, feeling, and healing.