| Your heart is the place where body, mind and spirit converge. When you practice yoga, you release tension, and the tension isn’t always in the body. It can also be in the heart, in the mind, or in feeling states. William Harvey, the founder of modern heart physiology understood that the mind and emotions affect the health of the heart. “Every affection of the mind is attendant with either pain or pleasure, hope or fear,” he said, “is the cause of agitation whose influence extends to the heart.” In Dean Ornish’s program for reversing heart disease he states, “the health of the cardiovascular system involves all aspects of the human being – physical, emotional and spiritual.” Dr. Ornish’s “prescription” which includes yoga postures and meditation, won the backing of modern medicine in the 1990’s and full coverage was granted for those who needed it and had Mutual of Omaha insurance. His program included a vegetarian diet, yoga-based stress management techniques, including stretching, meditation, breathing, and deep-relaxation techniques, smoking cessation, communication skills and directions for safe and moderate exercise. His program was also endorsed by the American Heart Association. The “heart” of the program includes spending an hour a day practicing stretching and breathing exercises, deep relaxation and meditation. Posture also affects heart health. Notice how you are sitting as you read this. Don’t change anything. Take a few breaths. Notice the quality of breath and then sit up nice and straight and breath again. Most people are slumped over much of the day. This produces shallow breathing where you don’t completely fill your lungs. That can prevent the “chest pump” from helping to return blood to the heart. This can cause many issues including reducing the circulatory cleansing of all our tissues, and minimize the transportation of vital nourishment to the cells and the circulation of important hormones that regulate the body’s processes. One of yoga’s most immediate effects is a dramatic improvement in your posture. More vigorous poses like downward and upward facing dog stretch all the muscles of the front of the body, expand the chest and increase breathing capacity, as well as strengthen the back, chest and shoulder muscles. Here’s a breathing exercise you can practice that will naturally deepen your daily breathing, increase calmness in your body and help you feel more relaxed. 1. Inhale slowly, gently, without strain, through your nose. 2. Exhale slowly, gently, without strain, through your nose.Pause briefly without straining or attempting to hold your breath. 3. Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3. Continue breathing in this calm, simple way for several minutes. Notice how much calmer you feel. Practice this often and you will notice your normal breathing also deepens. I hope you take this message “to heart” and then be aware of the changes you start to notice in your body. If you’d like help getting started with yoga, be sure to connect with me for a 1:1 session. It could change your future health. Have a wonderful, heart-healthy day! |
