Yoga: The Gentle Yet Powerful Healing Practice That Can Assist You on Your Journey to Wholeness

Yoga has a special way of healing us on all levels while gently bringing us closer to the divine and to ourselves. How lucky are we to have such tools available to us ✨

Yoga is a practice that involves physical postures, breathing exercises, and meditation techniques to improve physical, mental, and emotional health. One of the main benefits of yoga is that it can help improve the mind-body connection.

I took my first yoga class almost 15 years ago at my local YMCA. Not knowing what to expect, I let go of expectations and just flowed with the teacher and my fellow classmates. It was the first time my body and mind felt at ease, felt at peace. After that class, I tried my best to attend every Saturday or Sunday if it fit in with my part-time job.

To this day, I am so grateful that something led me to take that class because it ultimately guided me in the most wonderful ways — on and off the mat. All these years later, many seasons of growth later, I still find time to do my yoga practice however it looks for that day or week.

How Yoga Can Help Improve the Mind-Body Connection:

1. Focus on breath: During yoga practice, there is an emphasis on focusing on the breath. This helps to bring the mind and body into the present moment and allows practitioners to be more mindful of their body's sensations and movements.

2. Mindful movement: Yoga poses, or asanas, are designed to be done with awareness and intention. By moving mindfully and with intention, practitioners can develop a deeper understanding of their body and its capabilities.

3. Relaxation response: Practicing yoga can activate the relaxation response in the body, which can reduce stress and anxiety. When the body is relaxed, it is easier to tune into the sensations and signals that the body is sending to the brain.

4. Improved body awareness: By practicing yoga regularly, individuals can develop a greater sense of body awareness. This can help them recognize and respond to physical sensations and emotions more effectively.

5. Integration of mind and body: Yoga practice involves integrating the mind and body, which can improve overall health and wellbeing. When the mind and body are in harmony, individuals may experience less physical and emotional tension and feel more at ease.

How Yoga Helps You Heal From Traumatic Events

"The Body Keeps the Score" is a book by Bessel van der Kolk, a psychiatrist and trauma expert, which discusses the effects of trauma on the body and how various therapies, including yoga, can help individuals recover from traumatic events.

For me, I didn't realize at the time that yoga would guide me toward healing from the past. Of course, over the last decade, I’ve tried many healing modalities and I believe they all helped in some way, if anything they helped opening my mind that anything IS possible.

Here are some ways in which yoga can aid in the recovery process:

1. Mindfulness and self-awareness: Yoga promotes mindfulness, which involves being aware of one's thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations in the present moment. This can help individuals become more self-aware and better able to identify and regulate their emotions.

2. Regulation of the nervous system: Trauma can cause the nervous system to become dysregulated, leading to symptoms such as hyperarousal and dissociation. Yoga can help regulate the nervous system by promoting relaxation and activating the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps to counteract the effects of stress.

3. Movement and embodiment: Trauma can lead to disconnection from the body, making it difficult to feel present and grounded. Yoga involves physical movement and can help individuals reconnect with their bodies and feel more grounded in the present moment.

4. Resourcing: Resourcing refers to accessing internal or external resources that can help individuals cope with and recover from traumatic events. Yoga can provide individuals with a sense of agency and control over their bodies, which can serve as a resource in the recovery process.

5. Integration: Trauma can cause fragmented and disorganized memories and experiences. Yoga can help integrate these fragmented parts of the self by promoting mind-body integration and encouraging individuals to experience their bodies as a whole.

Yoga continues to be an integral part of my healing journey. Stitching the wounds back together while finding myself along the way. Part of this journey and part of the yogic way is to see how everything unfolds as an opportunity to learn and grow.

For Those Who Experience Chronic Stress, Yoga is a Great Alternative to Other Exercises

High-intensity workouts can be beneficial for some individuals, but they may not be the best choice for everyone, especially those who experience chronic stress and elevated cortisol levels aka, that constantly feeling of being overwhelmed and trying to catch your breath. Often, you’ll know if a workout is too intense for your current state of physical and emotional health if after working out you are depleted of energy to do other basic life things.

Yoga, on the other hand, can be a good alternative exercise for chronically stressed people for several reasons:

1. Stress reduction: Chronic stress can lead to elevated cortisol levels, which can have negative effects on the body. Yoga has been shown to be an effective way to reduce stress and lower cortisol levels, promoting overall health and wellbeing.

2. Gentle movement: Some forms of yoga, such as restorative or gentle yoga, involve slow, gentle movements that can be beneficial for individuals with chronic stress and elevated cortisol levels, as it can help to reduce physical and mental stress.

3. Mind-body connection: Yoga involves a focus on the mind-body connection, which can help individuals become more aware of their physical sensations and learn to regulate their stress response.

4. Reduced risk of injury: High-intensity workouts can increase the risk of injury, especially if individuals are already experiencing physical and mental stress. Yoga, on the other hand, is a low-impact exercise that can be modified to suit individuals of all fitness levels and physical abilities.

How to Start Doing Yoga for Free

Head on over to Youtube and type in “gentle yoga for beginners” and scroll down and click on one that you feel connected to. Two of my favorite online teachers are Yoga by Adrienne and Sarah Beth Yoga.

The poses, at first, may feel awkward but just flow with it. Surrender the expectations of yourself and what it should look like. Focus in on your breath - inhaling and exhaling fully - as you move from pose to pose. Enjoy the process of rebuilding a relationship, an awareness with your miraculous body. Because you are a miracle. You are deserving to feel safe, to feel at peace, to be at ease in the here and now.

And stay tuned by connecting with my on social or signing up for the newsletter below for an online yoga series that will serve people at different stages of this wild, beautiful life journey.

Cheers to you, sending lots of unconditional love and light to your beautiful soul ✨

Coach Haley :)