Keep Your Heart Healthy With Yoga Therapy
The human body is a perfectly designed machine that has the power to self-heal, given the right time and conditions.
Your heart pumps around 2,000 gallons of blood per day using a network of 93,000 miles of arteries and veins — equivalent to four circles around Earth — to send oxygen and nutrients to body parts and to release unwanted carbon dioxide and waste products.
Your heart is a muscle the size of a fist. It can survive almost anything, except for the pace of modern life. Chronic stress and sedentary lifestyles are the heart’s worst enemy.
In the United States, heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. Therefore, the importance of exercising, eating a balanced diet, sleeping well and adding alternative wellness tools to your daily practice can improve the heart’s endurance and overall health.
Yoga vs. yoga therapy
Just like some delicious barbacoa tacos, yoga can either be healing or the opposite, depending on your age and health issues. If you choose the wrong type of yoga for your body or needs, it might be harmful, just like extra red salsa can upset your stomach.
The main difference between yoga and yoga therapy is that with yoga therapy you become your own chef. Essentially, you learn to cook from scratch. It teaches you how to listen to your body’s messages, and soul transmit. It helps you apply the right tools for healing.
No yoga experience is needed to take a yoga therapy session. Yoga therapy can help active people as well as people with limited mobility.
Ready to try some simple, free and portable yoga therapy tools to support a healthy heart?
Here they are!
Hand gestures
“Apana Vayu” means purifying current. Apana Vayu mudra cultivates a long and natural pause at the end of the exhalation, creating a space for silence and deep rest, to listen to your heart’s messages. It is especially helpful for supporting your heart’s optimal health and the entire circulatory system. It releases contractions from the chest and instills calm and confidence while reducing stress and cultivating intuition.
How to practice:
Sit in a comfortable position.
Bend the index finger of each hand to touch the base of the thumb.
Extend the little finger.
Touch the tips of the middle and ring fingers with the tip of the thumb.
Place your hands on your thighs or knees, and relax into your breathing.
How often? Practice 3-10 minutes during the morning. You may meditate in this posture to attune to your heart’s wisdom.
Caution: Stop if you feel chest or upper body discomfort, fatigue or shortness of breath.
Modifications: If Apana Mudra feels too complicated or is uncomfortable for your fingers, make a heart shape with your hands and place them on your chest, next to your heart.
Legs up the wall
Short walks can improve blood circulation, lift the spirit and promote heart endurance. If you don’t have time for a walk, or the weather is not optimal, lie on the floor and position your legs up against a wall or chair and relax your mind, body and soul.
Try it for 5-15 minutes every day, and see how you feel. You might practice legs up the wall after a long day for better sleep quality.
Heart opener warrior
This standing asana can activate the heart energy point, and strengthen and align the shoulders, legs, pelvis and hips. It supports the reproductive, urinary and eliminatory systems, and also cultivates centering and integrity.
How to practice:
Stand tall and step back, about one leg-length.
Bend your front leg and stretch your chest by placing your hands to the sides, palms facing forward.
Relax the muscles in your neck and shoulder area and soften the muscles in your face.
Step forward and change sides.
How often? Three times a day for one minute on each side.
Modifications: Place your hands forward on the wall or a chair to keep balance.
Love and kindness
Love and kindness meditations, prayer, solo dates, listening to music and writing in a gratitude journal are other yoga therapy tools to add love and kindness to your day and life, and to support a healthy heart.
I invite you to choose one tool and practice it every day for a week and let me know below how it goes.
Avocado hugs,
Monica