Ever wondered why I chose Restorative Yoga for my Wednesday classes?
Do you feel that lying around relaxing is a waste of time and is not productive?
You are not alone. I received this feedback from a few of you and thought that Restorative Yoga deserved more clarification.
My Wednesday evening classes are all about undoing, relaxing, and releasing.
It is not about stretching or engaging, it is not about achieving results.
It’s about the exact opposite - it’s about just being.
Every movement modality out there is either mostly about muscle contraction (think weights or pilates), stretching (contortion), or a combination of both (yoga and gymnastics).
While restorative yoga for me is about neither.
It’s a rare modality that allows us to rest in poses that provide total relaxation and release in specific joints that we work on.
Look at this image of our spine’s just four vertebrae.
Can you see how many tiny muscles keep this bony structure together? Intertransversarii, multifidi, rotatores and interspinales muscles - fascinating stuff!
These little guys are constantly working each time we rotate, extend, flex or bend sideways. Every time the spine is taken out of its neutral position some of these muscles will contract, while their antagonists will stretch.
Even when we lie down, our physiological curves in the spine won’t be in a neutral position, unless you’ve got a specially tailor-made mattress that mimics your unique spinal curves.
The same happens in all other joints and muscles that keep them together.
And this is when Restorative Yoga comes into the picture.
This practice helps us find a neutral position where muscles can truly rest and just be.
No stretching. No engaging. Just resting.
But that’s not all.
You will be guided by me into the deepest of relaxations and beautiful visualisations.
You will also receive distance Reiki healing. I was not too sure if it would work.
But the feedback was very inspiring.
There was connection. Students felt as if I was in their homes giving hands-on assists like the ones you receive in my classes.
Interestingly, while I was doing my part of channelling Reiki energy to my students, I too had a beautiful meditative experience. The practice was unusually powerful, and I felt very present and connected.
And finally, Wednesday.
I chose a day that marks half of the working week where we have done 60% of the weekly workload and can enjoy a moment of relaxation.
So give it a try. Give yourself permission to undo and slow down.
Relax, Release, Connect.
