How Yoga Can Help You Destress During the Holidays
It’s that time of year again - parties, family, good food. As we all know, this time can often come with stressors beyond our control, with busy schedules and obligations that sometimes feel suffocating. The good news is that practices like yoga help you come back to center and release tension throughout the ups and downs of your holiday season.
Since yoga is a practice that connects you to the present through your breathing, coming to class will help your nervous system reset from the fight-or-flight mode it resides in during times of stress. In focusing on your inhales and exhales, you can move from your head and descend into your body to connect with the world around you. Bringing you back into your senses, you can tune out the world, the busyness and the noise, just focusing on your breathing. This doesn’t have to be exclusive to the studio either - you can practice deep belly breathing whenever you have a moment. By breathing deep into your stomach and expanding on the inhale, you can bring oxygen to your organs, allowing them to relax. Make sure to exhale fully and press out stale air you may be holding onto. Nervous system bonus points if you close your eyes!
Breathing also helps your muscles release. As the weather gets colder, our shoulders, hips and jaws can hold tension as a way to keep warm. When you practice yoga under the infrared heat, each of these muscle groups can release. Especially as you try to get gifts for everyone on your list, going from place to place, you might store a lot in your tissues. The deep, restorative stretching and twisting helps to ring out the tension and free up space within your body.
Also, through all the hustle and bustle, it’s tough to stay grounded - which can hamper digestion. Since yoga builds internal heat, it can aid in the flow through your system. Twisting, wringing out the toxins from your organs, yoga poses help get things moving while bringing you out of your head and back into your body. From here, your body can fully release and enjoy its mindful movement.
Expelling toxins that stress can generate, sweating and breathing through your practice can bring much-needed relief to an overworked nervous system. In sweating and increasing blood throughout the body, you can effectively detox from whatever the holiday parties have in store. Releasing these toxins through mindful movement is so effective in taking a load off of your liver and digestive system.
As many practitioners know, yoga is so much more than a physical workout. During this holiday season, give your mind and body the restoration and movement they need to feel at ease. Through all of the parties, events and obligations, yoga will always be there to help you sweat it out and return to your own energy.
Wishing you a wonderful season filled with peace and renewal!
Written by Paige Pichler
It’s that time of year again - parties, family, good food. As we all know, this time can often come with stressors beyond our control, with busy schedules and obligations that sometimes feel suffocating. The good news is that practices like yoga help you come back to center and release tension throughout the ups and downs of your holiday season.
Since yoga is a practice that connects you to the present through your breathing, coming to class will help your nervous system reset from the fight-or-flight mode it resides in during times of stress. In focusing on your inhales and exhales, you can move from your head and descend into your body to connect with the world around you. Bringing you back into your senses, you can tune out the world, the busyness and the noise, just focusing on your breathing. This doesn’t have to be exclusive to the studio either - you can practice deep belly breathing whenever you have a moment. By breathing deep into your stomach and expanding on the inhale, you can bring oxygen to your organs, allowing them to relax. Make sure to exhale fully and press out stale air you may be holding onto. Nervous system bonus points if you close your eyes!
Breathing also helps your muscles release. As the weather gets colder, our shoulders, hips and jaws can hold tension as a way to keep warm. When you practice yoga under the infrared heat, each of these muscle groups can release. Especially as you try to get gifts for everyone on your list, going from place to place, you might store a lot in your tissues. The deep, restorative stretching and twisting helps to ring out the tension and free up space within your body.
Also, through all the hustle and bustle, it’s tough to stay grounded - which can hamper digestion. Since yoga builds internal heat, it can aid in the flow through your system. Twisting, wringing out the toxins from your organs, yoga poses help get things moving while bringing you out of your head and back into your body. From here, your body can fully release and enjoy its mindful movement.
Expelling toxins that stress can generate, sweating and breathing through your practice can bring much-needed relief to an overworked nervous system. In sweating and increasing blood throughout the body, you can effectively detox from whatever the holiday parties have in store. Releasing these toxins through mindful movement is so effective in taking a load off of your liver and digestive system.
As many practitioners know, yoga is so much more than a physical workout. During this holiday season, give your mind and body the restoration and movement they need to feel at ease. Through all of the parties, events and obligations, yoga will always be there to help you sweat it out and return to your own energy.
Wishing you a wonderful season filled with peace and renewal!
Written by Paige Pichler