Yoga to relax and restore

                 

Why do relaxing and restorative yoga?

I firmly believe that it is necessary for a yoga teacher to be able to teach in different ways, to suit different needs, at different times. And that being able to teach a relaxing style of yoga, is both a blessing and a necessity.

Sometimes, a harder "workout", is not the best thing to do. And yet, other times, we have people in the class who want, or need (the two being different....), harder poses, and then there are those also in the same class, who need something softer. Due to:

• injuries
• recovering from injuries
• tiredness
• recovering from illness
• a bit emotionally fragile, on the day

There are other reasons, too:

• needing to pause to refresh during the class, as the class might be too difficult to sustain, without pauses
• people may not have yet built up enough stamina to do a whole class
• physically, a person may not be able to sustain holding a strong pose; this is often due to previous injury, or is to do with the skeletal frame. In this case, you need to know an easier version which can be held, and it most likely comes under the umbrella of a restorative pose

How do we do restorative yoga?

There are other reasons to know how to teach a softer style. Generally, in restorative yoga, one holds a pose for a longer period of time, relaxing into the pose with the breath.  Some restorative styles also use "props" such as

• cushions
• bolsters
• blankets
• straps
• blocks

Now, I'm quite sure that there will be people who are outraged at my suggestions, but, if you are the person who wants to do restorative yoga with props, you can

• spend even more money doing a course specific to this, which you may not want to hear if you are always forking out money to learn even more yoga "stuff"
• learn how to do it, by practising on yourself, this being the one that yoga teacher trainers may not like to hear

okay, but how can I do this in a class?

I frequently teach restorative, relaxing yoga, in a class. Without props. I would not even consider doing it with props if there were quite a few people in the class. And, if you need to travel with mats and such to teach yoga, it really is helpful to encourage people to have their own:

• mat: really, it's more hygienic to have one's own mat, than lying on someone else's sweat
• cushion: for end of class breathing, relaxation, or meditation. If a student's chin juts up when they are lying on their back, a small cushion or under the head will remedy this. The chin-jutting-up thing creates strain on people's back in leg lifts. Not everyone will need this. 
• straps: if you do a reclining hamstring stretch in class, this is helpful, but not essential. I seldom use them, nor do those stretches.
• something to cover oneself with if longish relaxations are done 

It really is difficult to cart this all around. If you are teaching in a premises, and want to provide them, you may be able to store these somewhere, on the premises. 

A mat is extra useful, as it can be rolled up at one end, to provide a slight head lift when lying on the back, in poses, and if needed in relaxation, or meditation.

So how else can I do restorative yoga? Without props?

1) I wrote 4 yoga courses, where I introduced the concept of using relaxing poses, which are held: 

• to provide a break
• to prepare for harder poses
• to give options for students when other poses were unsuitable
• to maintain a steady stream of awareness. I always felt that fiddling around with props would break this awareness, but that's just me

2) at the end of a class, to start cooling the body-mind-emotions

3) as a restorative or relaxing class.

So, we'll look at all of these, over the coming weeks.