Relaxation rEvolution: You Say You Want An Evolution?

I admit, when glancing at an image of a restorative yoga pose, it could look like a luxurious nap. In fact, many people joke that it's yoga for lazy people. Another popular belief is that restoratives are really for sick, injured, or old people. And while Restorative is deeply restful and healing, it is not just a physical 'recovery' practice.

On the contrary, I believe it is one of yoga's most advanced practices. Here's why.

We can all benefit from releasing the unnecessary habitual tension from our body and mind and Restorative Yoga can be an essential antidote for our fast-paced, stressed-out lives. However, allowing our selves time to slow down, rest, and grow quieter and still, is most often not easy. But even a small taste, a tiny glimpse, of the profound benefits of Restorative Yoga, can help to draw people deeper into this life-changing practice. 

Here are 4 Big Benefits of Restorative Yoga and also insights into why it is an advanced practice. Plus I share several practices below to help you experience the depth of restorative right now.

1. Restorative Yoga helps us cultivate the skill of conscious relaxation.

A restorative practice is more of a yin style of yoga, as opposed to more yang styles that involve more movement and more muscular effort. Restorative yoga uses long-held, supported resting poses to create the conditions for us to cultivate the skill of conscious relaxation and most importantly to release unnecessary habitual tension in the body and mind. It's a little bit closer to a meditation practice than a movement practice—it's a way of practicing "meditation" as a somatic, embodied experience. For many of us, hatha yoga practices can easily become another opportunity to over-effort or get caught up in accomplishing or striving to get better at a pose. Restorative yoga is about, "How can I let my body and mind unwind? How can I do less?" 

2. Restorative yoga helps us discover where we are holding tension.

 The actual effort involved in restorative yoga is the willingness to look at how and where we are holding tension, and to relax our body on the ground, allowing the breath to come in more, so the tension that we find can be softened or less gripping. Discovering where and how we hold tension helps us find room for change, so that tension won’t limit our physical, emotional, and mental wellness and our comfort in our body.

We tend to favor activities that ask us to use our muscular body, but we are already doing that all day. In restorative yoga, we let go of all muscular effort, trust the earth to hold us completely, then if we find we are still holding ourselves up somewhere, we let go again in the next breath. This creates deep release and ease in the body and teaches us how we keep working and doing even when it’s not necessary, so we go back into our regular activities in more articulate and wise ways.  

3. Restorative Yoga creates the conditions for the relaxation response to kick in. 

The grounding; complete, full breathing; and quietness of restorative yoga help us elicit the relaxation response, a neurological response that tells us we are safe, pulls us out of "flight or fight" mode and initiates the body's self-healing process. We switch over from worrying about staying "safe" to fostering the longevity systems of long term health, including digestion, elimination, reproduction, growth and repair, and immunity. 

4. Restorative Yoga helps us face what we are avoiding about ourselves.

 Most of us are programmed to "do" a lot—it keeps us engaged and makes us feel productive and in control. But our habit of running around, conquering our to-do lists, and fueling ourselves with coffee and ambition can often be a way we avoid deep discomforts and unwelcome feelings in the body and mind. Restorative yoga asks us to stop engaging in all the doing and face what we really need to look at about ourselves. To learn about, befriend, and care for the whole of ourselves in a way we are not used to. This is an essential step for health and healing, for true renewal. A lot of people think relaxing is about letting go, but rather than throwing out, we are trying to make space for what’s uncomfortable and to allow more space for the full experience of who we are.

But most importantly, as we allow more space for the full experience of who we are, we meet ourselves and connect with ourselves in a new way. Restorative Yoga sets the conditions for deep listening; the habit of paying close and tender attention to our body, our mind, and our heart so we can meet our “stress” - and ourselves - differently. This type of attention provides us with more resources and a greater capacity—physically, mentally, emotionally, and relationally—to respond calmly, clearly, and wisely, and also to engage more fully and expansively in our life.

When I share Restorative practice, I often focus on experiencing our connectedness. This feeling of connection not only changes the way we respond to stress, it actually leaves us feeling less stressed, increases the amount of joy in our lives, and sets the conditions for us to evolve. That might sound like a big promise, but it’s not. We’re designed to feel deep connections. As Thich Nhat Han teaches; it's not a matter of faith it's a matter of practice. 

Below I am offering more tools and practices to help you cultivate a deeper sense of well-being and relaxation with Restoratives.

Practice Now

LISTEN
A 10 Minute Deep Relaxation Practice
Use this deep relaxation before bed or anytime you need to release tension and feel more grounded and at ease.

WATCH
Enjoy a short 10-minute Restorative Goddess Pose
Join me for a short 10-minute practice that will leave you feeling more calm and open. You'll need two blocks and three blankets or pillows.

READ
Find Serenity Now with this Restorative Yoga Practice
Try this deeply relaxing sequence, paired with introspective journaling, to get present and comfortable on and off your mat.