There are a number of ways yoga can relieve pain & inflammation. Many people suffer pain, and many suffer for extended periods of time, this can then cause much wider long term issues as pain causes stress to the body and stops it functioning optimally. Dealing with pain can be a challenge, it can be so hard to pin down and doctors and specialists cannot always solve the problem for you, with side effects a problem with many pain medications finding natural pain relief can be really important. Read on to understand more about pain and how yoga can help you deal with it.
Anyone who suffers chronic pain of any sort will understand that any level of relief is of significant benefit to quality of life. Often health, physical and emotional issues can have many layers, sometimes we can make our way through the layers to resolution, other times all we can do is find a way to manage our discomfort. This is what a quality yoga practice can give you, it can really help you peel back the layers to understand what is happening in your body, helping you to make changes or seek the right help. It can support your body's natural healing process and it can simply provide some relief from symptoms of larger issues.
Knowledge is Power
In order to utilize yoga for pain relief for you as an individual you need to understand the different ways it can help you, as what works for one person, does not necessarily work for another. Some people think that because yoga is such an ancient practice, that it is not based in science and therefore is just another crackpot idea. But so many of the ideals have now actually been proven with science, not necessarily in the context of yoga, but with regard to the individual elements and functionality.
It is important to acknowledge that we have medical professionals for a reason and getting a correct diagnosis is important to finding a solution, our bodies are complex machines! In saying that our modern medical systems aren't always the best, being proactive with our health and not relying solely on others to solve our problems is important. A doctor can only make a correct diagnosis if given the right information.
Yoga teaches us to be proactive
This comes down to the core foundations of our Viniyoga practice, see my other blog post on "What's so special about Viniyoga?". As we practice we learn to listen to and interpret our body's signals, how it feels as it moves and when it is still. We take that understanding and we learn to alter our movements and actions in response to those signals.
We calm the nervous system using the breath
Search Belly Breathing online and the number of videos and articles on this topic are simply endless. Our use of Belly Breathing provides a direct connection to our Parasympathetic Nervous System (PSNS), also known as our rest and digest system. The alternate to that is our Sympathetic Nervous System, "fight or flight" system, so many of us operate in this stressed out state day in and day out. The Sympathetic Nervous system is responsible for sending pain signals to our body, to get it ready for action. The PSNS is designed to calm that pain trigger, so.... you can easily see that encouraging our PSNS to function well has an immediate advantage there. But on top of that our PSNS allows our body to work on its maintenance functions, digestion, blood pressure, heart rate & many other numerous important bodily functions. When those bodily functions aren't operating properly it can result in inflammation in the body further causing that stress/pain response.
Throughout our Yoga Time Warrior practice we are looking to use movement to relieve pain and tension in the body, we deepen our connection to our breath as we move through each class and then we finish with a short round of Belly Breathing, designed to reinforce your connection to the PSNS. We leave each class with less pain, stronger, and more relaxed.
Acknowledge imbalances
Not all types of yoga really embrace this concept, some do partially, but with Viniyoga it is a key component. Put it this way, whenever we feel pain it's because something is out of balance, whether it be emotional or physical/medical. To correct an imbalance both sides of the scale have to move.
As an example, often when a muscle has been overstretched, the opposing muscle has been over contracted so is shortened. Chiropractors will often talk about issues where your body is overcompensating to try and correct or manage an imbalance, so they often work on correcting the opposite side to where you are feeling the pain because that's where the actual problem is.
Many people incorrectly diagnose the cause of pain because they don't understand the dynamics. We resort to stretching because it often provides immediate, albeit short term relief of pain. This is where whole body integration in our yoga practice comes in.
Whole Body Integration
We need to acknowledge that to correct an imbalance we often have to strengthen one side (the area that has been overstretched) and stretch the other (the area that has been overtightened), stretching alone does not resolve an issue. The spine is also the center of our practice. The spine houses our central nervous system, our path of instruction from the brain to the rest of the body, when you think about it you can easily understand that if our spine is dysfunctional then it's likely disrupting those signals, so our body doesn't function optimally. Also, all of our limbs move with our spine at the center, so if our spine isn't strong and stable, how do we expect our major joints and then our limbs to function perfectly, it's just not logical.
With whole body integration we firstly focus on our spine and then we move our limbs in various ways in every movement using both strengthening and stretching elements. What I like about whole body integration is that it's efficient, it really maximizes your time by dealing with multiple problem areas at once.
Two great examples of postures with significant whole-body integration are Standing Half Lotus and Seated Marichi. In Standing Half Lotus we generate strength in our stabilizing leg, deep into the stabilizing muscles, all the way up into our hip & lower back, while at the same time focusing on spinal alignment with our breath we're improving our posture, along with upper body strength depending on our arm positioning. With our leg that is crossed we are stretching right into our hip and lower back, relieving a whole lot of tension. We do each leg, it is amazingly pain relieving yet strengthening.
In Seated Marichi by wrapping our arm we are opening right through the shoulder socket, drawing our shoulder blades together, strengthening the upper back. Folding forward to relieve tension in the hip and lower back. Then each inhale and exhale releases more and more tension. This is a challenging posture, we start by using a strap to allow wrapping of the arm, for some simply reaching may be all they can access, but the benefits in progressing this posture are so worth it.
Joint Pain
This is a whole different topic yet to come, sign up to my blog so you don't miss anything.
Personal Note
I found my way to long term back pain relief with my yoga practice, that included lower back pain, upper back pain, neck pain and shoulder pain. I had terribly tight hips and suffered knee pain. I also suffered headaches from a different cause, so removing the neck pain was of great help in easing those symptoms and I have now eventually found resolution for the headaches, they were caused by hormonal imbalances combined with Pernicious Anemia (vitamin B12 deficiency now treated every 10 weeks). I also now take specific amino acids which seem to be of great help reducing muscle fatigue and improving the strength of my connective tissues. My health issues were not significant, especially compared to what many suffer, but all of the issues combined felt like it. Peeling back each layer with the support of the yoga practice I created (now Yoga Time Warrior) and an understanding, helpful family doctor were the keys to my return to a happy fulfilled life, keeping up with my young boys!
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