Yoga, Restorative Yoga and Yin
Vinyasa & Hatha Inspired Yoga Flow
At Universal Balance, we offer Vinyasa & Hatha inspired Flow Yoga classes– a dynamic style of yoga that’s physical and deeply satisfying. Our teachers are highly trained to help you to adjust the pose to cater for injuries, discomforts or general aches and pains. We strongly believe that yoga should be accessible for everyone at any age and at any level, that’s why our focus is not on how well you can pretzel, but how we can help you get the most out of YOUR practice on any given day. We are a community focused centre with no mirrors, no pressure and absolutely no ego’s.
The benefits of yoga for mind and body
· Improves strength and flexibility
· Improves balance
· Improves core strength
· Improves focus and mental clarity
· Burns calories
· Increases agility and mobility
· Helps maintain healthy bones and joints
· Promotes a healthy posture
· Helps increase energy level
· Helps to calm the mind resulting in reduced stress and anxiety
Yoga and meditation evoke a relaxation response – the opposite of stress in the body. The Yoga Health Foundation has also seen the results of just one hour of daily yoga lowering blood pressure, cholesterol and resting heart rates through a number of trials. These drops result in a healthy heart and work alongside low stress levels to maintain a healthy body and mind.
If you’re looking to improve your fitness and connect your body, mind and soul – yoga might just be right for you.
Level: All
Yin
While “yang” yoga focuses on your muscles, yin yoga targets your deep connective tissues, like your fascia, ligaments, joints, and bones. It’s slower and more meditative, giving you space to turn inward and tune into both your mind and the physical sensations of your body. Because you’re holding poses for a longer period of time than you would in vinyasa and hatha, yin yoga helps you stretch and lengthen those rarely-used tissues while also teaching you how to breathe through discomfort and sit with your thoughts.
The practice of yin yoga is based on ancient Chinese philosophies which believe there are pathways of Qi (energy) that run through our bodies. By stretching and deepening into poses, we’re opening up any blockages and releasing that energy to flow freely.
What are the health benefits?
Yes, there are plenty of physical health benefits to practicing yin yoga, but there are plenty of mental health ones, too. Below are some of the most popular, from stretching your connective tissue to reducing stress and anxiety.
1. Lengthens connective tissue
2. Increases flexibility
3. Boosts your circulation
4. Reduces stress levels
Who is it good for?
Many of us live fast-paced, active lives, whether we’re going for a run, powering through a regular yoga class, or sweating it out in a boxing class. Yin yoga is the perfect balance to those intense exercises, providing a slower, more meditative counterpart to help you round out your workouts.
Yin Yoga is also for anyone who is dealing with injuries or a chronic condition like osteoporosis or arthritis as this style, in particular, is a more restorative practice than other forms of exercise. Yin can also be a great starting point for anyone interested in meditation as it has such an internal focus.
The bottom line.
Yin yoga isn’t your typical sweaty, intense vinyasa flow. But that doesn’t make it any less of a workout—give it a try the next time you’re in an exercise rut to experience its many physical and mental health benefits for yourself.
Level: All
Restorative Yoga
the art of healing the nervous system
Restorative Yoga is a practice of passive healing. It is intended to carry you into a deep state of relaxation by completely supporting your body in propped-up postures. This allows you to surrender completely, allowing prana, or vital life energy, to bathe the body in nourishment. The kind of experience we are seeking when practicing restorative yoga is very subtle. The physical sensations you should feel are minimal as the body finds space to gently open into the support of the props. This is unlike other styles of yoga where you may be asked to use your breath as a coping mechanism for intense sensations as tight muscles begin to release. It is important to remember that during a Restorative practice it is an act of doing, without doing. In other words, through the use of props as support, you are able to surrender completely any tension in the body, without exerting any effort in the process.
The physiological benefits of the practice are immeasurable. One of the major benefits of Restorative Yoga is the effect it has on the nervous system. The nervous system functions on two planes: sympathetic and parasympathetic. When the nervous system is in its plane of sympathetic function, the body enters its ‘fight or flight’ mode of survival. All of the systems of the body that are not needed for basic survival from say, running away from a sabre-toothed tiger, temporarily cease functioning. Unfortunately, in today’s busy, stress-ridden society, more often than not, people are living prolonged periods of their daily life in their sympathetic nervous system! As a result, the body loses its ability to carry out basic daily functions, like proper respiration, digestion, and elimination. Restorative Yoga, as its name would indicate, ‘restores’ the body to its long-term plane of parasympathetic nervous system function, the function of ‘rest and rejuvenate.’ It is in parasympathetic nervous system mode that the systems of the body can restore balance, allowing the body, breath, and in turn, the thinking mind and internal energetic space to heal and function at their highest potential.
With its balancing, healing qualities for the nervous system, Restorative yoga is therefore a cure for every body! It also has many specialised applications, supporting those with conditions like anxiety, exhaustion, adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome, hormonal imbalances and recovery from illness and surgery.
Level: All
