Yoga as a wellness tool

yoga wellnessyoga health
Written By Juliana at The Yoga Therapy Space

When the body speaks loudly but we don’t hear it

Let’s be honest, we ignore our body’s needs frequently. It is quite rare that in our busy everyday lives we really hear the (not so) subtle signs of what we need and have the skills to respond timely and effectively.

An obvious example is when we’re tired (which is most of us, a lot of the time!) and we drink coffee to give us a boost of energy rather than getting the proper rest that we need. Another is when we have a great deal on our plate (at school, work or home) so we cope by celebrating productivity, making more to-do-lists, normalising stress and just push through it rather than reducing or redistributing the load. And while some stress is good for us, there is a tipping point*. There’s now plenty of research documenting how chronic stress has many health implications for adults and children alike*. We also do it with aches and pains - taking an aspirin, carrying on and hoping it’ll go away rather than taking a bit of time to learn what is happening and what we can do to reduce or remove the discomfort.

Many of us have been doing this sort of ignoring for so long that we just accept it, cope the best we can, but don’t really make the time to hear or address our real needs.

What does mindful yoga offers us?

Obviously our lives and bodies are marvellously complicated and it is not just a matter of dropping a few tasks here or getting a bit more sleep over there when it comes to supporting or improving health. There is no simple solution for complex medical conditions and yoga isn’t a cure for all ailments. But what mindful yoga does offer us is the opportunity to get to know ourselves holistically. This offers us tools to hear signals the body sends earlier and gives us practices to encourage better and more sustainable energy levels, functional patterns of movement and breath, and nervous system intervention which we can translate into effective self-care tools for greater balance and resilience in everyday living*.

And these tools really are life changing because ignoring signs or continuing with dysfunctional patterns of being can negatively effect our daily functioning, our relationships, our work, and eventually have serious health implications and/or exacerbate existing health conditions.

While this is not a post about stress per se (there’ll be a separate post about the bigger topic of stress at a later date), stress does have a great deal to do with our general state of health. Chronic stress has a great influence on and is linked to many diseases and health conditions partly due to the havoc it plays on every system in the body including the nervous system and hormones*. On a basic level, when we’re stressed and tired the body can not effectively perform vital healing and repair functions such as cell regeneration, immune support or even good digestion which are vital for all aspects of health. Instead the body prioritises survival functions, ready for fight or flight, which pumps us with stress hormones, pushes up blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, increases hyper-vigilance and narrows mental focus. If this continues over an extended period of time then the consequences can be very serious. Chronic stress is linked to numerous mental and physical health conditions including anxiety, depressions, chronic headaches, asthma, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, infertility, ulcers, IBS, autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and cancer*.

You are more than your productivity

The problem is that we have normalised stress because many industries benefit from “good stress” performance so we’re encouraged to keep on going. This is partly because we’re physiologically wired to be more productive with the “right” level of stress (to a point)*. Rarely will someone tell us to slow down or lighten the load when we’re “performing optimally”. Instead we’re often rewarded, promoted and encouraged to keep “delivering”.

But this level of performance is not sustainable unless we implement self-care tools and learn to recharge. Clients will often hear me say “you can not pour from an empty cup” and it is true - just like you can’t run a car on empty. There’s a great Chinese proverb to echo this: “stress is what we think we should be, relaxation is what we really are”.

So it is also no wonder that so many of us are chronically stressed without even realising it. We think it is normal because everyone else is feeling the same way. We walk around feeling wired, tired, snappy, angry, anxious, suffering from back pain, sleep trouble and digestive issues (sometimes all of these things all at once!) and just assume that that’s just the way it is and there’s little we can do to help ourselves.

And, of course, yoga isn’t just about managing stress. Mindful and therapeutically informed yoga helps us to have a better relationship and understanding of the body. When applied with skill it can support and improve a whole range of physical, mental, emotional and medical conditions. An experienced teacher will offer tailored practices suitable for an individual at a particular time and in a particular set of circumstances (if you want to know more about therapeutic applications of yoga then check out the Yoga Therapy page here).

Not all yoga is therapeutic - a bit of yoga science

This is important because not all yoga is therapeutic all of the time - just like not all medicine is a remedy for all ailments. We have to learn which tools to apply for what and when - a knowledge teacher can help us discover this.

For example, certain types of mindful movement help to reduce levels of stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol in the body, increases vagal tone and increases heart-rate variability which are all important health indicators*. Informed breathwork such as left-nostril breath and belly breathing can help activate the parasympathetic nervous system which will calm the body and mind leading to lower muscle tension, reduced anxiety, reduced experience pain, aid digestion and boost immune function to name a few*. And particular types of guided meditations can soothe brain wave activity (working with “slow” theta waves) and increase endorphins which can aid your mood and improve sleep*. The opposite is true for other types of movement, breath and meditation so we have to select practices skilfully.

What I love about yoga is that if it is applied skilfully and mindfully these tools are not just one-offs but available to us for life and can be applied to ourselves whenever we want or need them. This gives us power and agency in the relationship with our own body in ways that other therapies or exercise programmes will not.

In the yoga space, rather than pushing the body we respond to its needs, befriend it and develop a two-way dialogue. This gentle but effective support of our wellbeing really is important because if we continue to not hear (or ignore) our body signals then eventually the body will make itself heard in less than subtle ways. We can, for example, experience everything from increased back and joint pain to declining health and total burnout which then forces us to stop and listen.

Immediate and long-term benefits of yoga

While we often feel some great benefits from our yoga practice pretty instantly - for example, skilfully applied breathwork can calm or boost our mental activity in as little as a few minutes of practice as it regulates your nervous system, reducing heart rate, lowering blood pressure and blood sugar levels - on the whole it takes time, patience and practice to learn to hear ourselves and develop effective bodymind tools. We won’t solve all of our problems with one yoga class! That is why it is called a yoga practice.

But persevering, practicing regularly and consistently will translate into real benefits which are effective and sustainable. For example, yoga tools which help us find the right balance between tension and ease help lead to better self-regulation. Self-regulation offers us choice, and choice means we have the opportunity to respond consciously rather than react automatically, stay stuck in a pattern or habit which might no longer be serving us. This is why yoga is often described as transformational. There is no magic about it (sorry to say), it is just much harder to ignore what we need when we feel and hear it more clearly. It is this sense of clarity which might lead to new ways of experiencing (or wanting to experience) our everyday lives.

This really is valuable life changing stuff and I’ll post more on the transformational power of yoga, and on how mindful and therapeutic yoga can support particular states of health or medical conditions in future posts.

In the meantime, if you have any questions on any aspects of the practice, are feeling a bit stuck, have any questions on how mindful and therapeutic yoga can support particular medical conditions or just want to know more about how yoga therapy works then please do get in touch.

In summary: mindful therapeutic yoga helps

So at the heart of it, what we can say is this: a mindful, purposeful and informed yoga approach helps you to befriend, hear and respond to your body’s needs. This approach is a valuable wellbeing tool which improves health and supports natural healing - physically, mentally and emotionally. It is even better because you have access to the tools whenever you need them once you have grasped them which is agenting, empowering, and liberating.

And if you’re feeling great right now then that’s fab too as mindful yoga can help support every part of your life and health journey. Maintaining health and balance in your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing is a valuable investment which you won’t regret. It’s the old prevention vs cure argument.

This is not a luxury

And finally I’d like to leave us with this thought: self-care in this way is not a luxury. It really is an investment. It is essential to support health and make the best of ourselves available to ourselves and others for lasting health and happiness. In the words of the great Audrey Lorde “caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation”.

I offer a range of free resources on the Tools page if you’d like to get a taste for some of the practices and have access to tools when you need them.

You can also join a mindful online yoga class which you can read about and book here. I offer free online group class access to essential works and people on low incomes so please feel free to get in touch if this is you.

Or if you’d like to know more about how tailored practices can support you then please see the Yoga therapy page or get in touch.

If any of this post resonates, helps or challenges then I’d love to hear from you so please do leave a comment. And if you know someone who can benefit from the practice then please do share this post with them.

Wishing you much health and love,

Juliana x

*sources, scholarly evidence and articles

Juliana at The Yoga Therapy Space

Yoga teacher specialising in therapeutic and mindful applications of yoga offering tools from yoga and science for sustainable, resilient everyday living.

https://theyogatherapyspace.com/
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