May is Mental Health Month. It’s well documented that physical exercise and meditation are key components of mental health. So many of us live in our sympathetic nervous system (fight, flight or freeze). We live in states of unprocessed stress. Living this way can cause both metal and physical health problems. A regular yoga practice helps you process your stress, and move into the bodies “stability monitor” - the parasympathetic system. Science continues to prove what yogis have known for centuries. Moving your body in order to find space for stillness and meditation helps you be emotionally and physically healthy. Another key component of mental health is breath regulation, something yogi’s call pranayama. Using different breathing techniques can calm your sense of flight, fight, freeze, and move you into a restorative place of healing.
According to the book Burnout, by Emily Nagoski, PhD & Amelia Nagoski, DMA “Physical activity is the most efficient strategy for completing the stress cycle”. Affection is another key part of processing stress. A good long hug or kiss, a chat with a trusted freind will also help pull you through the stress cycle in back into the parasympathetic part of your nervous system. In the book they explain that just because you have moved through a stressful event (the “stressor”) it doesn’t mean you have fully processed the stress. And you can hold that stress in your body for YEARS. Think about the time someone cut you off badly on the highway and you were frightened you were going to have a bad accident. Thankfully you didn’t, but you were left shaky and angry after the event. Just because you keep driving and your hands stopped shaking doesn’t mean you’ve actually moved all the way through the stress cycle. The event is over but the after-effects remain in your body.
This concept is what my special class on Saturday May 8th, Fun Times Vinyasa is all about. By getting some good physical exercise followed by breath practice, followed by time to connect with others we can break through the stress cycle and move into a place of balance.
I hope you will join me in this fun and healing class. Go to the Classes tab to sign up.
Namaste,
Selene