Unwinding with some rejuvenating supported postures for an hour and a half sounds perfect. But moments after you close your eyes and immerse yourself in the first pose. The pose feels as though it’s going on forever, and although your body isn’t moving, your mind won’t stop racing. You feel restless, agitated, and out of control. This is supposed to be “restorative” yoga. What happened?

Restorative yoga is a passive practice

Poses like Reclining Bound Angle Pose or Legs-up-the-Wall Pose are held for several minutes at a time, propped with blankets, blocks, and bolsters to minimize the amount of work that the muscles are doing in the pose. A restorative practice can rest your body, stretch your muscles, lower your heart rate and blood pressure, and calm your nervous system, moving you into a peaceful state of deep relaxation. But while the practice of restorative yoga comes easily to some people, it can present real challenges for others.

The practice of being still and restful provokes anxiety for many people. And during times of extreme stress, such as illness, a difficult transition, or grief, releasing control of the body can overwhelm the nervous system. Passive postures can evoke feelings of discomfort for myriad reasons. On a physical level, Pransky says, the body is in a vulnerable state: You are releasing control of all your muscles, lying with your eyes closed and your chest and abdomen—the location of your vital organs—exposed. In many restorative poses, the body is also splayed out, and often the bones are not resting in their sockets, which can leave you feeling physically unstable or insecure.

On an emotional level, restorative poses can be challenging because, when the body is in a passive posture, the mind has fewer physical tasks and sensations to focus on than it does in more active poses, making your attention more likely to turn inward. Any emotions you might have been suppressing throughout the day—fear, frustration, sadness, anxiety—are likely to come to the forefront of your mind once your body begins to relax.

Finally, if you go very deep into the meditation of the pose, says Pransky, you can lose a sense of your physical shape. If you are in a content and secure frame of mind, this can deepen your experience and provide a sense of bliss.

Is restorative yoga for you?

But just because restorative yoga can trigger anxious or uncomfortable feelings doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. In fact, times of high anxiety or stress are the times you can most benefit from the healing aspects of a restorative practice. The solution is to support passive postures with props in such a way that the body and mind feel grounded, safe, and integrated. That way, you can still experience the benefits of restorative yoga, and can eventually learn to use the practice as a tool for being with all those feelings.

Try making restorative poses the core of your practice if you are feeling run down or in need of a lift before Spring. Why not try the first two poses for 10 minutes or longer, and the third for 5 minutes or longer. If you want to wind down before bedtime or just feel like lifting your spirits then try this sequence and feel the benefits when you wake up with a beaming smile on your face the next morning.

Supta Baddha Konasana
(Reclining Bound Angle Pose) Supported

Sit on your mat in front of a bolster placed lengthwise behind you, Loop a strap behind your back at your sacrum. Bring it forward around your hips and over your shins, and secure it under your feet so that it encircles the lower part of your body, Place the soles of your feet together and put a folded blanket or block beneath each of your outer thighs. Lie back with your spine centered on the bolster and with your arms out to the sides, palms up.

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose) Supported

Place a bolster or two folded blankets on your mat, and lie back over them so that they support your back rib cage but allow your upper back and shoulders to reach toward the floor. Place the soles of your feet together, cross your shins, or bend the knees and keep feet flat on the floor. More-experienced yogis can practice with the legs straight and the feet on a block. Let your arms rest out to the sides or stretch them overhead with elbows bent and palms facing up.

Viparita Karani (Legs-upthe-wall Pose) Supported

Inches away from the wall (the exact distance depends on your leg flexibility and comfort). Sit sideways on the bolster, with the side of your hip touching the wall. With the bolster under your bottom, lower yourself back and swivel around so that your torso is perpendicular to the wall and your legs are extended up it. Let your arms rest out to the sides, palms up. In the beginning, stayabout 5 minutes, and gradually increase the time to 10 minutes or longer

Yogi tea was an inspired choice for our first food and drink weekly instalment. Seen as there is a small chill is in the air we have decided to focus on something with lots of ginger to keep the colds at bay and make you all feel sprightly when you step into Autumn. This is such an simple and effective idea and here at Yoga Wellbeing we can’t get enough of the gingery goodness. Get stuck in.

Ingredients –

• For this recipe you need a vegetable juicer
• 8 large carrots
• 1 – 2 inches fresh ginger root

What to do -

• Peel the ginger, wash the carrots
• Put the carrots and ginger through the juicer
• Drink immediately if possible

Yoga Wellbeing tip –

• This is a magic juice it helps keep your liver healthy
• It also is packed full of antioxidants which will help your skin fight the effect of  Ageing
• Carrots will help improve your eyesight (the old wives tale is true)
• It will also improve your body’s immune system no end.