Tag: holiday stress

Beat the Winter Blues with Restorative Yoga

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Rejuvenate

Relaxing by candlelight

Whether you celebrate Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Christmas, Yule, or Dōngzhì, or no religious-cultural festival at all, the months of November and December in the Northern Hemisphere can be a stressful time of year. Winter is starting to hit hard, the hours of light dwindling down to their shortest, and the temperature is dropping. Additional stresses can wear us down; such as family or work social obligations, exams, deadlines, trip-planning, and attempts at tying up our own loose ends or goals for the year. Our hibernation impulse kicks in, and we want to stay inside where it’s warm and snack on comfort food.

At English Yoga Berlin we are offering a special 6-week Restorative Yoga course to help you alleviate winter stresses and regenerate your self-care, ending with a special class on December 21st, the winter solstice. Just in time for the daylight hours to start increasing again.

When:   Sundays 6-7:30pm, Nov. 16 through Dec. 21, 2014.
Where: Our Kreuzberg Yoga Studio
Price:    100€ for the whole course / 20€ per drop-in class
               registered monthlies 90€ / 2 stamps on a 5er card


Please contact us for more info – (to register, bring half the fee in cash to the first class)


Why Restorative Yoga?

In our everyday lives, we are often encouraged to push further, achieve more, do more, be more social, be more productive, fill our days with activities and take on more work. It is easy to lose sight of our own capacities, our own limits, and we can push ourselves beyond them without nurturing the support structure that we need to maintain a healthy balance, inviting stress, anxiety, injuries or illness. A restorative yoga practice (as well as yoga nidra and other practices that focus on relaxation) can help to rejuvenate the body and mind after pushing too far, thereby fostering balance. Once we know our limits and have nurtured them we can then gently (and with support) test the waters and play at the edges.

Expanding our limits (and moving beyond our comfort zone) can cause great rewards such as opening our minds to new concepts, becoming more flexible or physically strong, and strengthening our empathy towards other people. But it’s not possible to find balance if all we feel is stress, low energy and burn out. Restorative yoga activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for nurturing our bodies and restoring them to health. When we are in a rushed and high-energy state, our bodies activate the ‘sympathetic nervous system,’ which is responsible for releasing certain chemicals to keep us going, so that we can react quickly and do more within a shorter period of time – a state of fight-or-flight. These chemicals can linger in the body until the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in to counter them. And we can remain in this state long after the specific things that have caused us anxiety or stress have ended. This is why we sometimes feel that ‘relaxing’ (meeting friends, watching TV, reading a book) cannot rejuvenate us. We may have trouble sleeping or have anxious dreams, which only perpetuate the feeling of urgency, stress, and low energy.

What is Restorative Yoga?

The only way to counter these effects in our body is with complete and total concentrated relaxation. Activities that remove distractions, such as meditation, sitting by a fire, or going for a solitary walk can help. Yoga Nidra and Restorative Yoga are specifically designed to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, so that the body and mind can restore to balance. Restorative Yoga is based on the Iyengar tradition of using props to support the body during poses.

Some of these poses were adapted by Judith Lasater for a restorative practice, so that deep relaxation could occur by holding positions longer (up to 15 minutes) with the support of bolsters, blocks, chairs, pillows and blankets. The body is positioned in such a way that it is totally supported, without the need to either stretch the muscles or use their power. A restorative pose should be very very comfortable and relaxing so that the muscles of the body can decompress, and the mind can completely unwind, fostering the release of chemicals from the parasympathetic nervous system. The restorative yoga classes we provide at English Yoga Berlin incorporate a gentle flow, along with some chair-supported Hatha poses (beneficial for those needing to strengthen their bones and joints because of Osteoporosis or Arthritis), followed by long-held poses in a warm candlelit room, and accompanied by gentle pressure point massage.

December got you wrapped up in stressful knots?

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Whether you celebrate Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Christmas, Yule, or Dōngzhì, or no religious-cultural festival at all, the month of December in the Northern Hemisphere can be a stressful time of year. Winter is starting to hit hard, the hours of light dwindling down to their shortest, and the temperature is dropping. Additional stresses can wear us down; such as family or work social obligations, exams, deadlines, trip-planning, depleting finances, and attempts at tying up our own loose ends or goals for the year. Our hibernation impulse kicks in, and we want to stay inside where it’s warm and snack on comfort food.

Acknowledge your stress

Sometimes we can get so caught up in all these activities we don’t realize we’re wearing ourselves down or getting irritated in the process. Once you acknowledge and recognize that stress is indeed affecting your mood or sleep cycle, you can give yourself permission to slow down, take breaks or drop things with less priority. It may seem counter-productive to schedule more things in, but adding some regular breaks, and things that are for ‘you’ to your schedule, will make the other stressful items on your list seem easier. You can look forward to the little present you give yourself – your Friday evening acupuncture session or swing dance class.

Eat Hearty Warm Food

Being on the go all the time can deplete our resources and zap our body of nutrition. It’s more important than ever during stressful times to eat well. There are a lot of sweet treats around this time of year, which fill us up without providing nutrition. Depending on where you live, you might also feel more dehydrated because of cold weather. Also, according to Ayurvedic nutrition, our bodies need more Vata energy during the cold winter months. They recommend eating more heated root vegetables, rather than raw salads. You can save time by making large batches of soup or stew. If you spend most of your time away from home glass jars can provide a DIY alternative to a thermos in order to carry around your delicious hearty lunch.

Breath and Movement

Outdoor activities in the cold can be quite exhilarating if you’re prepared for it. Wrap yourself up in a warm scarf and wear loose clothing made with natural fibres. One misconception most people have in countering the cold is to hunch their shoulders up by their ears and round forwards. This actually makes us colder! If you open up your chest and drop your shoulders down, your lung capacity increases and allows more oxygen to enter and warm up your body! If you breathe deeply and slowly or take slight pauses as you hold the breath in, it helps to keep the warm air in longer. Keep your body moving by riding a bike or walking quickly. And when you reach your destination do some gentle stretches to come back to the warmth of the inside temperature.

Regenerate

A regular yoga or meditation practice helps to recuperate us from stress. Keep going to your yoga class, despite your busy schedule. Or even add a new one!

Take advantage of our special offers this month at English Yoga Berlin – bring a friend for free to our slow and rejuvenating Restorative and Classical yoga classes.

And remember, as the daylight hours grow shorter, the actual Winter Solstice on December 21st is approaching, which means the daylight hours will start to increase again!

And as the New Year is shortly upon us, so is our new yoga schedule for 2014.