Restorative Yoga
Take rest
Be still
Close your eyes
Expand your vision
Explore the world beneath your skin
Your stars, your mountains, your bright wide skies
Rest there
Rest in the simplicity of your breath
Restorative yoga is the yoga of rest and relaxation, the yoga of your parasympathetic nervous system. It is the most yin of all the modern yoga styles, a mere bolster or two away from meditation, still and sublime, yet incredibly supported. It’s day 4 of a holiday, that part of your vacation where you abandon your efforts to relax and simply melt into the hammock.
With a scaffolding of support, it is a return to serenity via accessible rest. Rest facilitates ease which in turn creates an open, loving and relaxed experience of life, freeing you from a state of poised protection.
Restorative’s Roots
Initially created by BKS Iyengar to rehabilitate injury or restore health after illness, it was further developed by the mother of restorative yoga Judith Hanson Lasater (https://www.judithhansonlasater.com/, )who is a sage and wise woman. Her guidance has seen its growth, her insights and knowledge expand beyond the realm of Restorative yoga which is taught across the world. Nowadays it serves to soothe our weary bones.
Our culture is heady, obsessed with thought, consumption, mass production while your worth is based on your productivity and accumulation. A world of speed, and work which does not value play, stillness, self-care and freedom. We multi-task (or think we do), and the greater our output, the greater our sense of achievement and self-worth. Even meditation practices, sold as a tool for greater focus, are delivered in time-saving doses – 5 minutes of calm. Our downtime is dancing with stimulus, TikTok, Instagram and Netflix, a barrage of entertainment and then we wonder why we are so tired.
We Are Wired For Rest
Our nervous systems are on constant high alert. It impacts our thoughts, emotions, immune system and relationships. And while our society may not value relaxation and stillness, our biology demands it.
Your nervous system is a multi-highway of complexity designed for your survival. In a reductionist manner it can be divided it into 2 key parts – the sympathetic which is your accelerator, your get up and go, the driving force, also known as your fight or flight, which is balanced out by your parasympathetic which takes you to sleep, elicits calm and connection and is frequently termed your “rest and digest” system. Being alive is a dance between these two, oscillating, always geared towards balance.
In our relentless world we hum in a state of sympathetic, excitation and we have a diminished skill of calm. It has become hard to relax and rest, like lifting a weight of a severe illness. From a simplistic biological standpoint, we are perpetually outrunning the tiger, it is exhausting and impacts the whole of you, often leaving you fragmented and frazzled, the antidote to which is rest, not simply sleep, but deep rest.
Restorative in Studios
True restorative yoga is hard to find these days with most versions of the practice being yin restorative (see my blog on this), the sheer quantity of props required makes is fiddly and space consuming, studios are reluctant to invest in props which do not form part of a flow toolbox and restorative yoga does not attract the same abundant crowds as power yoga. It does nothing to tone your arms and butt, but sooths your soul. But oh, they don’t know what they are missing. This practice is a joy, a gem and the returns on the investment are grand.
A Path To Stillness
Restorative can change the narrative of stillness, instead of it being threatening and hard, it becomes a playground, the bolsters and blankets supporting your body from beneath, this place of supported quiet becomes a universe of connection, another layer of play and exploration. You get to discover your innermost self with the soft rhythm of breath, feeling (not thought) and expansive awareness, as your navigational companions. The temple of your body, the container for your experience. It is an invitation of inner play, surfing and gliding your body space, an adventure of the soma.
Rest is a revolutionary act in a society that glorifies business. When you rest, you are working towards dismantling a culture that determines your value in your productivity, you are resting towards a peaceful, easeful collective and towards restoration of self, your own autonomy. You are honouring your place in a universe of rhythms. When you rest, you challenge the status quo.
Take rest.
Close your eyes.
Explore.
