3 ways restorative yoga helps beat the Autumn blues

It takes some time for our body to catch up with seasonal adjustments. It takes care and attention to help our bodies transition through the season giving us the energy to gracefully skip through to spring!!

Bring on the woolly jumpers, hearty hot pots, roaring fires & a good pinot noir! Let’s get ready to embrace the season ahead with a regular yoga practice and incorporate the following elements to help ease the transition along: relax, restore and rejuvenate.

3 ways to help beat the Autumn blues

Relax. Practising restorative yoga helps to eliminate fatigue and stress that accumulates in our daily routines. Our bodies become less vulnerable to stress-related illnesses, helping us achieve optimum health. Restorative yoga activates the parasympathetic nervous system, enabling automatic control of the body. The regular nervous system is at rest, and the muscles become more relaxed.

Restore. Yin energy is associated with cold weather and dampness. It is important that we embrace the yin nature of autumn with restorative, longer-held postures such as, legs up the Wall, Savasana. This allows the body to clear out and for the nervous system to completely relax, making room for all that the new season has to bring.

Rejuvenate. As our climate cools, our joints often stiffen due to a lack of circulation to the extremities. Pain receptors in our bodies are often more sensitive in cold weather.  Our job is to keep the body warm and circulation flowing from the inside out. A gentle yoga practice will most certainly help with circulation, so on those cold mornings when you just want to stay in bed, your joints will thank you if you don’t!

Here’s a pose you can try at home:

Relax, restore and rejuvenate with Sophia this Sunday 11th September with her Restorative Yoga Workshop.