Yoga Isn't Just About Exercise- It Heals Too!

When I really came in to my yoga practice, I came to the mat because I needed healing. In the past I had done yoga for the physical, but this time around- healing found me when I wasn't expecting it. I found that each class I took I was healing my broken heart, my broken soul. I wasn't as depressed as I had been before and I had something to look forward to each day (and it wasn't just those cold lavender towels after a hot class). I began noticing things about my body that I had never noticed- for example: my little arms are a lot stronger than I thought. I became aware of my breath and how if I took a deep enough exhale, I could go deeper into my poses. I became aware that with each savasana I was letting go of the expectations I had always placed on myself. With each class I was living in the moment and not my past... 

Yoga isn't just about exercise, it can heal you too! If my students can learn one thing from yoga with me, I hope it is that they can heal themselves through yoga. You can heal your traumas, you can heal your past...Your past does not have to bring you down anymore. Let it go! 

Yoga can help with the detoxification process because of the sweating and releasing of toxins out of the body as you flow through the poses or as you sit in those long holds stretching deep into the muscles and connective tissues. 

Yoga gets your blood moving! Increasing oxygen delivery and improving the circulatory system. In yoga we are stopping that blood supply from going to certain organs and glands when we are in our poses. After holding these poses we open up the flood gates and allow that fresh newly oxygenated blood to rush in and flood our system! 

Yoga helps you control your body through your breath. Yoga means "to yoke" or "the union" and when we practice yoga, we are yoking our mind and our body through the vessel of our breath. When we voluntarily change the depth, length, and texture (example: ujjayi breathing), which is an involuntary action of our body, we can change the messages that are being sent from our respiratory system to the brain. 

Yoga destroys stress hormones! Yoga teaches us to be present in each moment, being mindful of what is happening in this moment- not the past (depression) and not the future (anxiety). By destroying those pesky stress hormones, we have reduced our heart rate and lowered our blood pressure. Two very important components when it comes to our emotions. When we are anxious- often our blood pressure and heart rate are much higher. With the practice of yoga, we have trained our body to say "Not today stress hormones- not today!" 

Yoga provides us with a beautiful Sangha- community! It can be felt at the end of each yoga class, the yoga community is a beautiful thing! The love, healing, light, and awakening that happens in yoga classes can be felt with warm high energetic vibrations. Often people leave a yoga class feeling on a high, what we like to call "yoga stoned". This high makes them feel tingly, loving, smiling, happy, rested, relaxed, etc. The yoga community is one that will always be there for you wishing you the best and helping your live out your dreams. They believe in your passion and help to fan that fire that burns deep inside of you. They will shine a light for you in your dark times. They will feed you if you are hungry. They will listen when your soul needs to share something. 

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