Removing density from the Body…

I came across a great article today about the way yoga works within our body. You know that post-yoga feeling that is hard to describe?… well this article goes a long way to explain that.

Here is a snippet of the whole article. If it sounds interesting to you … click the source link below.

As a result of stress, poor diet, lack of movement, aging, and emotions, the body can become very stiff, rigid and dense. When the body becomes dense, the life force or prana that moves through every cell of the body cannot do so fluidly until the density of the physical body is removed.

One of the purposes of yoga asana (poses) is to help break up the density of the physical body, which allows the prana to flow more freely. For this to happen, the posture needs to be held for an extended period of time. This is the reason for longer holds on the gross physical level of the body.

Long holds allow the muscles to begin to relax. If you hold a posture for just 15-30 seconds, the tendons (the attachments where the muscles connect to the bone) tighten in resistance to the stretch.

If the posture is held for 2 minutes or longer, the belly of the muscle (where all the blood and potential elasticity is found) will begin to release and lengthen. Lengthening the belly of the muscle is like putting elastic links in a chain—the result is more permanent elasticity and flexibility.

With greater muscle flexibility and elasticity, the prana can begin to move and break up the subtle mental, emotional, and energetic blocks in the body. Once the prana begins to move, it activates a subtle energy carrier system called the nadi system.

In this way, restorative yoga, yin yoga, and other forms of hatha yoga that seem simple or slow are not at all “beginner’s yoga.” They offer very powerful returns because woven in with the simplicity is something incredibly profound.

 

 

Here’s the link …

Source: Why Slow Yoga? | John Douillard’s LifeSpa

And let me know what your take away is.