Why do we need to take good care of our bodies?
Health is your greatest wealth. Your body gives you the strength and energy that help you achieve better results in every aspect of your life. Being able to sleep at night, walk without pain, eat and enjoy food brings us the most basic feelings of contentment. Even when practicing physical and mental exercise, many people still find there is something missing. One must have a feeling of joy and connection in order for all their systems to be in harmony. Yoga therapy can address each of these areas of wellness to give you more agency in caring for your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies- and help you see how they are all connected.
Culturally, we place value on “doing” and “achieving”, often forgetting the value of rest and stillness. Not having enough sleep can cause a lot of stress, which prevents our bodies from functioning well. While many people are familiar with Yoga, they may not know that there are certain breathing exercises that can specifically address sleep dysfunction; or that there are yoga postures that can reduce anxiety. Symptoms such as insomnia and anxiety often go hand in hand. A yoga therapy practice that integrates wellness goals for the body and mind can provide drastic improvements to your daily life.
Body Aches Covid – How Is The Physical Body Affected
Many people experience extreme covid joint pain, muscle pain after covid, sore legs, and severe body aches after COVID. How can we complete our daily tasks if we are not physically able to do them? Regular practice is the key.
When there is pain in a particular area of the body, Yoga views the condition through the lens of the prana vayus, translated from Sanskrit to mean “governing winds”. The direction that prana flows informs the functions of the body. Often, physical discomfort is a result of the prana being blocked or stuck. We know that COVID causes inflammation, which is commonly attracted to our joints and muscles. Asana, (or physical postures), combined with breath, can reduce inflammation, and help you move from a sitting to standing position, or upright to bending with more grace and ease. Prana is our life-force energy and we can influence or move prana, via the breath as well as with our thoughts. When prana flows everywhere, we have optimum performance of our systems.
How can Yoga help the body recover from COVID?
If the architecture of our systems is weak, we can improve the function by strengthening muscles through the practice of asana, or physical postures. When disciplined to combine breath work, (pranayama), with physical postures, (asana) in a daily practice, the positive effects are synergized.
Bring more focus to caring for yourself. Not just the face or skin, hair or muscles. Engage in a self-care routine that brings attention to the strength and flow of your body. Meditation is also an integral part of self-care. Yoga Therapy encourages a meditation style that is focused on elements of nature to calm the nervous system and inspire the practitioner to live their best life. When matched with a Yoga Therapist, you can receive a daily practice of pranayama, asana and meditation that will positively impact your life in unimaginable ways. You will find yourself sleeping better, having more frustration tolerance, having a healthy glow to your external features and the ability to attend to daily tasks with vigor and ease.
Commit yourself to healthier habits by eating fresh foods, doing yoga daily, meditating, connecting with others, focusing your thoughts on positive outcomes, and finding activities that bring you joy and purpose. All of these activities make up the bird model of Pañcamaya, in which the body, mind, breath, behavior, and emotions convene to support the whole person.
