health

by Nina Close-Up of the Falls by Melina Meza As I wrote in Your Breath: The Key to Your Nervous System , while you cannot tell your nervous system directly to slow your heart beat, digest your food more quickly or to start relaxing right this minute, you can control your breath. And because your heart rate tends to speed up on your inhalation and your heart rate tends to slow on your exhalation, this enables you to consciously access your nervous system. By intentionally taking in more air (either by speeding up your breath or by lengthening your inhalation) you can stimulate your nervous system. And by taking in less air (by slowing your breath or lengthening your exhalation), you can calm yourself down. Last week, I wrote about emotional counter-poses that you can use to balance your emotions. You can use various yogic breath practices in the same way. You can use breath practices when nothing serious is wrong but you�re just feeling slightly hyper (see anxiety or stress) or sligh...

by Nina Last week in my posts about anxiety Anxiety, Yoga, and the Front Body and Soothing Yourself With Supported Forward Bends , I discussed yoga poses to rely on when you�re feeling anxious (supported inversions and forward bends) and yoga poses to avoid when you�re in that state (backbends, twists, and Sun Salutations). It makes sense if you�re in a crisis period to practice the poses that calm you down and avoid stimulating poses that might exacerbate your condition. However, if you�re in a state of chronic anxiety, avoiding backbends, twists, and many of the active poses for a long period of time will move your body toward imbalance. The same is true if your practice is focused on any emotion-based condition, such as agitated depression, clinical depression, or even just chronic stress. In this case, I feel it is better to return to a more well-rounded yoga practice (see A Week of Yoga Practice ) but consider how you end your practices. By choosing an appropriate counter-pose to...