Melt holiday stress - Relearn how to relax with restorative yoga
During the hectic holidays, restorative yoga
offers a few moments of calm.
"People have said our gentle and restorative
class is like a massage," said Madia Swicord,
owner of Madia's Studio on South Broad.
Yoga, a 2,000- to 4,000-yearold movement practice,
boasts many forms, from vigorous ashtanga to
sinuous tantra.
In recent years, though, some stressed-out
Western yoga teachers have pulled the most restful
elements from the traditional yoga practice
and created a form of yoga focused on relearning
how to relax. Called "restorative"
or "destress" yoga, the aim is to
soothe.
"It's about becoming comfortable,"
Ms. Swicord told her students in a recent class.
Tension sends heart rate and blood pressure
soaring, writes one of the country's top restorative
teachers, Judith Lasater, in "Relax and
Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times"
(Rodmell Press, $22).
In fight-or-flight mode, muscle tension increases
as adrenaline rises, she writes. Other systems,
such as digestion, shut down to conserve energy
for other uses.
Restorative yoga uses blankets, bolsters and
blocks to support and relax the body. Sequences
are designed to move the spine in all directions,
and may include an inverted (upsidedown ) pose.
In restorative yoga, everything is done in
slow motion. Poses are held for several minutes.
"I believe many people are addicted to
functioning on an adrenaline rush," said
certified relax- and renew-style trainer Jayne
Cagle, owner of 58 Yoga in the Highway 58 area.
"A relax- and renew-style class is an
invitation to quiet the body and the mind,"
she added.
Even with final exams, a full-time job and
a trip to Massachusetts this week, Bonnie St.
Martin, 22, a receptionist at Madia's Studio
and a student at Chattanooga State Technical
Community College, said she cleared an hour
for the class.
"I have to make time for it, otherwise
I'll go insane," she said.
After moving gently through a restorative class,
"my back and spine feel amazing,"
she added.
During the "mentally hectic" Christmas
season, a yoga class helped her remain calm,
said Crystal Smith, 42, a skin-care specialist
at Madia's Studio. "Yoga keeps me open-minded
and aware, and gets me centered, mentally and
physically," Ms. Smith said.
Those familiar with yoga poses will ease into
restorative yoga.
A typical cobbler's pose, for example, is done,
but with the head resting on a block or a block
and blanket.
A bridge pose is turned into a restful "corpse"
pose, with a rolled blanket placed under the
body, along the spine.
"There's no strength used. You're holding
poses for long periods of time and allowing
the stretch to just happen," Ms. Swicord
said.
