I’m a Yoga Therapist and anatomy teacher. I read research, studies and articles that other people might likely find boring. But here’s something really cool - the body is always striving to bring us into balance. Even when you’re not feeling well, chances are that your ailment is your body’s desperate attempt to get back to health.
Diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, even autoimmune disorders are our bodies incredible attempts to keep us alive and thriving at all costs. Here’s one example:
Our bones are made of two things - collagen and calcium phosphate. Our body also needs calcium phosphate for blood clotting, nerve conduction and cell division. If we don’t do weight baring exercise, like warrior poses, the body wisdom is:
“Well, I’m not really needing strong bones because I’m not using them, but this calcium phosphate could be used for nerve conduction. I’ll just take it from the bones and bring it to the nerves.”
Seems like a logical plan. However this leaves us with two important problems:
Our bones gets weakened by losing calcium phosphate and osteoporosis can occur.In moving a lot of calcium phosphate out of the bones and through the body some of it gets left behind as a coating in the blood vessels. This contributes to a hardening of the arteries, which contributes to heart disease; the number one cause of death in America.
Scary? Certainly. But doing Yoga is one of the best ways to channel your body’s life force towards health instead of disease.
Yoga practice:
1)Helps your body to maintain your strong bones.
2)Calms your nervous system and reduces inflammation. Inflammation is considered to a root cause of cancer.
3)Lowers blood pressure and reverses heart disease.
4)Fosters healthy digestive function so you can absorb the nutrients (including calcium phosphate) from the food you eat to nourish all your tissues, without degrading your bones.
5)Has even been proven to reduce your biological age - yes, yoga even makes you younger.
This list could go on and on.
Whether you’re feeling great right now, or your body needs some help in getting back into balance, Yoga is the best prescription for a healthy life.
Author: Monique Lonner, Director of Advance Trainings and Yoga Therapy (www.soulofyoga.com)
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