Restorative Yoga Didn’t Used to be My Cup of Tea…
OR
How I came to appreciate restorative yoga – wherever you are, there you are
When I was in my 20’s and dancing was my main squeeze, I began to have a fling with yoga.
I was lucky enough to find my teacher, Judith Lasater, early in my relationship with the yoga asana practice.
Judith’s teachings resonated with me because although she was a senior Iyengar yoga instructor, she also had a masters in physical therapy, and had earned a Phd in east west philosophy.
It’s my understanding that Judith never actually practiced as a PT, but went to physical therapy school to become a more informed yoga teacher.
She invested many hours of study and self practice to be the best person, mom, and yoga teacher she could. This piqued my interest.
I’ve got to say that her formal education and how it showed up in her teaching inspired me and sparked the desire to someday go back and do some post grad schooling, which I finally did in my early 50’s, earning the masters I have in Kinesiology.
Judith’s teaching was (and still is) creative as hell and sometimes broke what I perceived as yoga’s “rules”. The important part of that sentence is “ what I perceived as yoga’s rules”. Totally my interpretation.
I loved how she used the classical teachings learned firsthand from Mr. Iyengar, coupled with her scientific knowledge of the body, and a playful approach that underlined the explorations of her regular home practice.
I remember one time many years ago when we practiced entering Urdhva Dhanurasana (full bow pose – a huge backbending effort) from a seated position like her young daughter, Lizzie, was practicing in gymnastics. We played with that entrance and explored it fully – a big class of us, and not everyone was as young as I was at that point.
And we did things like allowing our back pelvis to rotate with us in standing postures rather than pulling it back. Judith was the first one to teach me how the pelvis is a bony ring and one side rotated than the other side rotated too (like in the same direction).
At one of the many Mt. Madonna yoga weekends I spent with Judith we did passive backbends over the big rolled carpets in the room next to the dining hall. She could turn anything into a yoga prop.
I quite liked that.
I have always been thoroughly impressed with Judith’s ability to stitch together the esoteric with science and play. It’s something I’ve tried to emulate in my own personal way.
She is one of the most inspirational movement mentors I have had in my career.
That’s a hard job description to fill. I am very choosy about who my mentors are.
In my 20’s, I drove to San Francisco almost every Thursday morning to practice with Judith at the Iyengar Institute. I also took every workshop I could afford with her.
To this day I continue to study with her when our schedules match up.
At some point in the first few years that I was learning and practicing with Judith, something difficult happened in her life and as I remember (again, this is my memory, so not sure it lines up with reality 100%) she gave herself permission to practice only restorative poses for a full year.
Really, who knows if this is how the story goes, but it’s the “story” I remember.
The year of exploring quiet, supported, postures held for longer periods of time informed her teaching in new and different ways. It opened her teaching to a new tract of study, it provided material for a book, and I am certain it changed the course of Judith’s own personal life.
For me, this highlights what yoga practice is about – allowing oneself the room to explore and gain a deeper awareness or understanding of our lives, our purpose, our needs……
Honestly, though, as a person who likes to MOVE, the restorative work was hard for me. And we started to do a lot more of it in Judith’s classes.
Although I never wavered from studying with Judith, there were times I felt pretty “judgy” about the amount of restorative we were doing. Like, come on, let’s do something that is “hard” and asks my muscles to really work.
Didn’t I just say that the restorative work was hard for me. Turns out we were practicing something really “hard”.
It was perfect, really, that my fiery, strong, bold, and sometimes ferocious nature was being asked to cool its jets on a somewhat regular basis.
Balance is appropriate, right?
I learned to love the restorative practice even though at first it was like eating the vegetables that I knew were good for me even though I’d rather have the dessert.
I soon learned to love the taste and even crave those vegetables on my plate (and I still really super love dessert, too – balance is appropriate, right?).
As I grew and matured (read: had a lot of life experience, therapy, and just got generally older), the practice helped me to surrender some of the anger that I used to defend myself against the world.
Psychologically speaking, as the cloak of anger and defense fell off due to the many things I was exploring in my life to heal some pretty deep wounds, I found myself face to face with anxiety.
Just another layer of the onion.
The restorative practice became a tool in my growing “toolbelt” that allowed me to cool the anxiety jets. This was especially true as I explored the breath both in traditional pranayama practice and while lying around in the restorative poses.
So, why do I share this with you?
I’ve kind of bared my soul, haven’t I?
First off, my process is probably a pretty common story. Maybe you share some of the same story? Probably in some way since we are all human, we share coming face to face with ourselves and understanding what has helped soften the blows of this human condition.
But I share it with you also as an invitation to try a more restorative yoga practice.
Even occasionally.
In fact, if restorative yoga is totally 100% unappealing to you, I suggest even more strongly that you give it a good go. (or not, because really, I’m not attached to this)
I, by nature, though, am not someone who initially liked this kind of practice – breathing, lying around for a period of time in a posture that is supported by yoga props, no real muscular action……
In the restorative work, though, I have gone so deep, like that kind of floating deep where nothing really matters and it’s all just ok as it is. Kind of more than blissful when it happens.
I have wept silent tears while in supported Viparita Karani (legs up the wall). I wasn’t sad, the tears just came and were cleansing.
I have had insight, some of which I even remembered after the practice.
I have fallen asleep in restorative poses, but I guess I was profoundly tired and needed that sleep.
I have been transported.
I have also struggled. I have grown quite familiar with my inner critic. Actually, there seems to be a committee that sits in my head with advanced degrees in critiquing me! When I settle into being still and quiet, those inner critics seem to believe an invitation has been sent to set up shop.
In Buddhist practice, there is a term for this called “monkey mind”, suggesting that the mind is unsettled or restless.
Yep, that shit happens for me.
Yep, that’s a common human experience.
I have also experienced some physical discomfort – a certain nagging along my spine, too much pressure against my skull, or a restorative pose that just doesn’t resonate with me. (Easy fix, change my position! Much easier fix than the monkey mind business).
But this is the reality of being human – we get restless, we feel discomfort, we also go deep, we cry, we may feel anxious, we find some comfort, and on occasion there is bliss.
Because really, wherever you go, there you are.
That’s why I like to explore the restorative yoga work. It slows me down, it allows me to focus on my breathing, the tissues of my body are given permission to rest in a very different way than when sleeping, and I know that science backs up some of my personal claims.
In fact, here are some of the findings from the evidence-based studies I have perused:
Chronic stimulation of the nervous system by chronic life stressors is implicated in numerous diseases. Restorative yoga has been shown to have a moderating effect on the nervous system, hormonal emissions, physiological factors, and regulation of nerve impulses. The way this happens is that the practice encourages one to relax, slow the breath, and focus on the present, which allows a shift from the sympathetic nervous system (flight, fight, or flee response) to the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest relaxation response).
This shift in the nervous system occurs partially because of an inhibition of the posterior or sympathetic area of the hypothalmus (located at the base of the brain, intimately engaged with the pituitary gland, and important for hormone regulation and other physiological processes like regulating temperature). This inhibition optimizes the body’s sympathetic response to stressful stimuli, restoring a regulating reflex mechanisms relating to stress. This means breathing and heartrate often slow, blood pressure can decrease, cortisol levels lower, there is increased blood flow to vital organs, and sleep is often improved.
This, all for the price of some regular time spent in a quiet supported posture while focusing on gently lengthening the breath…..
Pretty easy (and not so easy).
Does this sound good? If so, consider spending 20 minutes a day in even basic savasana. Add a few restorative poses like legs up the wall, supine baddha konasana, or a supported bridge.
Whether you are intrigued by the idea of deep restorative yoga or repelled by the idea of being still and quiet, I invite you to join me once a month at Yoga Center Santa Cruz during the Release into Peace classes where I create a practice and hold the space for 2 hours of breath awareness, gentle verbal guidance, and supported postures. You can sign up in advance on the “workshops and special classes” page of this very website.
In exploration,
Laurie BB
