Why Yoga is a Holistic type of Stretching
By Nina Schnipper
There are many ways to stretch your muscles and your body. Traditional stretches involve stretching one muscle at a time. They are often done before or after a work-out.
Another type of stretching is called proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF). When you practice a PNF stretch for a muscle, you use the help of other muscles to enable you to get a deeper stretch.
There are a few other styles of stretching, including assisted and partner stretches, but yoga may be the most holistic type.
Roots of Yoga. Yoga has been practiced for thousands of years. It originated in India. It was developed as a lifestyle practice to keep the body and mind flexible.
It was originally developed by upper-class citizens, which is why yoga terms are in Sanskrit. It was developed as an elitist language, but traditions have not dropped it from yoga practice.
Yoga was developed as a system for good health. Because of its many health benefits, it is considered a form of Ayurvedic medicine.
Ayurveda is the world’s oldest system of medicine, dating back seven thousand years. It is practiced heavily in many Far Eastern countries. Health practitioners in the U.S. are new to understanding and practicing Ayurveda.
Health benefits of Yoga. A yoga session is a form of meditation. Throughout parts of the meditation, you may be focused on breathing. Other times you might be focused on clearing your mind and filling your body with positive thoughts.
Most of your time during a yoga session is spent in a moving meditation.
You focus on a series of movements to stretch your muscles in different ways. You may pause and concentrate on the proper form of an asana, or pose. Or you may keep movements more fluid, with only brief pauses before moving to the next asana.
Some of the health benefits from regular yoga practice include: > Improved mood and energy > Reduced anxiety >Enhanced relaxation >Improved sleep >Increased blood flow >Loosening muscles >Physical tension relief >Reduced emotional stress
Many of these benefits are common to all types of exercise. But stretching does not provide the same benefits of cardiovascular or strength training, so it is important to include those in a well-rounded exercise program.
How yogic stretching is holistic. Yoga is a dynamic form of movement. First, unlike other types of stretching that isolate muscles, stretching one at a time, yoga is based on asanas. Asanas are poses, or postures. To perform most asanas, you need to focus on holding several muscles in a stretched and balanced position.
Yoga is also unique in that it involves multi-directional stretching. Stretches, exercises, and sports are more dynamic when they involve movement in multiple planes, or directions. Multi-directional exercise is beneficial because many everyday activities use movements that are multi-directional.
Furthermore, yoga stretches muscles in ways that strategically focus on tension areas. For example, “hip opener” asanas release tension in a way that allows great amounts of circulation and energy to flow from the upper body to the lower body. Around our shoulders, our thoracic outlet is an area that can get tense from overuse and typical poor posture. By stretching these “tension traps”, we can release improve the flow of chi throughout the whole body, also called “releasing chakras”.
Yoga is dynamic, using several muscles in multi-directional movement. Combined with its effect on improving circulation through tension areas, yoga may be viewed as a holistic therapy.
For more information on Thai-Yoga to relieve hip and back pain, visit the Higher Lifestyle blog at www.higher-lifestyle.blogspot.com.
About the
author:
For more information, articles, plus video, on this topic, see the Higher Lifestyle blog at www.higher-lifestyle.blogspot.com.
Nina Schnipper offers fitness training, spa services, and massage therapy in Basalt, Colorado at Higher Spa & Studio. She specializes in pain relief and injury recovery. She loves to work with musicians, and pregnant women.
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I wish you all the best on your yoga adventure!
To your health,
Thomas T :)
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