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Many people have never heard about Restorative Yoga and are thoroughly surprised when their physicians recommend it to them as alternative therapy for dealing with stress. Most people have a belief that yoga is a fitness and exercise regime that helps one keep one’s body healthy and fit. However, this is just one aspect of yoga. Yoga has a lot more to offer than just physical fitness. Yoga is also immensely beneficial to the mind. It helps calm the mind, rids it of its distractions and allows you to control it. This can help you be more mentally alert and sharp. But, even beyond physical and mental fitness, yoga can offer a lot more benefits, one of which is stress relief and management.

Restorative yoga has become immensely popular as a unique system of stress relief and management in research circles as well as amongst practicing medical professionals. The benefits of restorative yoga are for all to see and more and more physicians are recommending it as an alternative therapy as opposed to dependence on prescription drugs. If you want to understand how restorative yoga works, read on…

The mind and the body are deeply interconnected. When the body is under tremendous physical strain, the mind is likewise afflicted and when the mind is under strain, physical symptoms are evident. When people sleep or rest, they are unable to provide the mind or the body with adequate relaxation it needs to be able to rejuvenate itself. What is required is deep relaxation wherein every tissue and muscle of the body is relaxed along with the mind which is empty of all thoughts, concerns, worries, emotions, fantasies or day dreams. And this is what restorative yoga provides.

On one hand, Restorative yoga makes use of a number of Yoga props like blocks, straps, blankets, balls, towels, chairs, walls, sandbags, eye bags, and pillows to ensure that the body is completely and fully relaxed. The yoga props are arranged in a way as to maximize comfort and at the same time provide stimulation to the right body parts at the right time. Then a sequence of yoga poses is held to ensure that all the muscles and tissues are fully extended and relaxed. Yoga poses in restorative yoga tend to be held for much longer than poses of other yoga styles. This is mainly to allow the body to fully sink into relaxation.

On the other hand, restorative yoga uses yoga breathing techniques or pranayama to control the mind. Pranayama is a collection of yoga breathing techniques during which the yogi has to concentrate only on his breath and not allow any other thought to enter his mind. This results in great mental relaxation. You may be aware that even a small mental break helps to refresh the mind and what you get in restorative yoga is not just a short break, but a long and extended relaxation for the mind. This goes a long way in stripping off stress, both physical and mental.