By Dr Deborah Quinn

Photo By Natalie

As part of enhancing your wellbeing, we are looking at many tools to help encourage some relaxation in your body and mind. Sometimes the tool we are looking at directly affects the mind (our first posting), sometimes the tool focuses on and opens up creativity, sometimes the tool may be a method of physical relaxation.

Yoga…

We will be looking into the spirituality and the potential for emotional release in later postings. For now…

 

Image By Natalie

 

The Body…

Yoga is one tool that can be used to work gently on long held tensions in the musculoskeletal system to encourage ‘release’ over time. This enables your body to feel more relaxed, less uncomfortable and move more freely. Long held tensions can cause a jarring or pressure in free movement. This can result in discomfort and limitation. If you push too hard on a system full of tensions, injury is more likely. Yoga may be a great way to help improve your performance in exercise and activity.

 

                   Image from fitted magazine.com

The Mind…

Freeing the body slowly and gently also offers opportunity to free the mind. A new more flexible way of thinking follows a renewed flexibility in the body. The mind and body are linked. The more relaxed the mind, the more you may be able to connect to creativity and unique expression. A return back to a more authentic you.

Yoga can be a fantastic tool for release!

 

 

Top tips

• Leave any thoughts of competition behind – it is not about what you can do, it is how you progress. Everyone has a totally unique body, there is little point expecting your body to achieve something someone else can do. But the magic is in opening up a movement that was limited and stuck to become more free and powerful.
• Enjoy the effects of guided breathing and physical movement on your mind.
• Muscles being released and worked effectively create a beautifully defined body over time.
• This is an inward process. To increase awareness of your mind and body. Everything external can be forgotten, a time to reconnect to the peacefulness within, when all the reactions to everything external are put aside.
• Contact a good teacher. This is all about good technique, to improve your practice and avoid irritation to your body and mind.
• Don’t see yoga as an exercise regime. See it as a practice to help improve the functioning of your body and mind. Depending on what classes you take you may be surprised at the level of physical challenge, however frustration building about your concept of exercise or what yoga should be, can dull your experience of something extraordinary.
• If you are hyper mobile… take care. You do not want compromise joints that are challenged by excessive flexibility! Work very carefully with an expert.

 

 

              Image from givelovegetlove.blogspot.com

 

Look out for more in depth understandings about yoga in the following months! While Debbie will endeavour to offer some insights to encourage beginners, progressing to further inspire people more involved with the practices; Natalie will be investigating practices, often as a complete beginner. She will also be interviewing the professionals.

Read more in Relaxation Part 4

This week’s Recipe…

Important: While we hope to inspire you with new and clean ingredients, you MUST make sure that all ingredients you use are compatible with your own individual medical conditions, medication, allergies and goals.

Turmeric Latte

Why not try this occasionally after a great yoga session?

from: Free People BLDG25
blog.freepeople.com

Organic Ingredients:

1 cup almond milk

1-2 pitted Medjool dates

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp chia seeds

2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

Pinch of black pepper

1 tbsp coconut oil

Optional: 1 tbsp raw cacao, raw honey to taste

 

Directions:

Place almond milk, dates, vanilla, chia seeds, turmeric, cinnamon and ginger (+ cacao, if using) into a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer the blended mixture to a small pan and heat on low until hot but not boiling.

While the mixture is heating up, pour the coconut oil into the bottom of your mug.

Once the turmeric mixture is nice and hot, turn off the heat and pour it into your mug, allowing it to mix with the oil. Top with a pinch of black pepper. Enjoy!