Valentine To Myself: Rest Day!

After four very active days filled with walking, downhill, and cross-country skiing, today is a rest day.   I am not just talking about sleep, which is vital.  I am talking about deep rest--physical and mental rest--which I believe is essential to a healthy, rewarding life.

The more I stress my body, the higher my cortisol levels rise.  My body expects me to work hard and stress it again today.  I know it is time for some rest because I didn't sleep well or long enough last night despite lots of physical activity.  Poor sleep is an indication that my body has been overstimulated and exhausted. 

Today I will practice an hour of restorative yoga.  Restorative yoga stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, the "rest and digest" part of the nervous system.  All of the exercise I have been doing has been stimulating my sympathetic nervous system, the "fight or flight" system.   Contrary to the messages I've been sending to my body, I am not being chased by a saber-toothed tiger. I need to send messages to my body that I am back in the cave, surrounded by friends and family, all danger passed.   

I have had the great good fortune of studying restorative yoga with Judith Hanson Lasater, author of the book on restorative yoga,  Relax and Renew http://www.amazon.com/Relax-Renew-Restful-Stressful-Times/dp/1930485298. I recommend you buy it and work with a trained yoga teacher if you want to practice restorative yoga.  

As practiced by Judith Lasater, restorative yoga benefits the body in several ways:  

• Lowers blood pressure and heart rate
• Reduces muscle tension and fatigue
• Lowers serum triglycerides and blood sugar levels
• Reduces cortisol and boosts immunity

By moving my spine in all directions over the course of an hour of so,  the large muscles in my body and my organs will be gently opened, rather than stretched.  Using an assortment of props, I will practice a forward bend, a backward bend, and a twist.  I will also practice a safe, gentle inversion--where my head will be lower than my heart and my feet higher than my heart and digestive organs-- to reduce the effects of gravity on my body.  The inversion will reverse the flow of blood and lymph that has pooled in my lower body, counteracting the skiing, walking, and sitting that I have been doing.    My body will then be ready to relax into my favorite pose: Savasana, for twenty minutes.  

Roger Cole, Ph.D., a yoga teacher and scientist,  has studied the physiological effects of restorative yoga, relaxation, and posture.  He published this wonderful graphic, complete with stick figure images of the different yoga postures on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RogerColeYoga 

One of Roger's students wore a heart rate monitor during Roger's restorative yoga class in Del Mar, CA.  Over the course of the class, the student's heart rate slowed continuously until it reached a low of 28 beats per minute  (bpm) during a supported supta baddha konasana (supported bound angle). You can see from the chart above that the student's heart rate would fall as he settled into the series of postures and then rise whenever he would release out of a pose and set up the next one.  

Notice how long each of those postures was held.  The student practiced a standing forward fold with his head on a block for a few minutes, bringing blood to the head.  Then the chest and was elevated and opened in a supported bridge variation for what looks to be about 5 minutes. Heart rate rose while the student transitioned into a   15-minute supported bridge, where the heart rate fell below 40 bpm.  An 8- or 9-minute supported forward fold quieted the body further.  I'm guessing that the student turned his head from one side to another during this forward fold, because you can see that the heart elevated slightly in the middle of that section.  A suppported spinal twist was practiced on each side of the body;  again you can see where the heart rate elevated when the student switched sides.

   

During his sixth posture, supported baddha konasana, or cobbler's pose,  the student reached the low of 28 bpm.  The decline in heart rate is similar to what happened in the supported bridge, but the student gets deeper and deeper into a resting, restful state.  Then he transitioned into his final posture, a very gentle Savasana with his legs elevated on a chair.  Compare the resting heart rate between the first posture and the last posture and draw your own conclusion.  Do you think the student felt rested when he finished?  Was his mood changed?  Did he sleep well that night?

I can rest my body deeply when I set up the right environment for a good restorative session: support myself properly so that I can be still and open rather than stretching the body;  close the eyes and cover them with an eyebag; practice in a room without music;  cover my body with  a blanket to keep the body warm.  In a sense, I have to recreate that cave I mentioned before.  Judith recommends at a bare minimum a 20-minute Savasana every day. http://www.judithlasater.com/

If I were more of a geek, I could show you a printout of my heart rate during a restorative session at home.  Alas, I have to leave that to others. I await Fitbit introducing an affordable gizmo that could measure the quality of my restorative yoga sessions. . . 

Try a restorative yoga class at a study near you!  Knowing how to rest is a skill you can rely on as you face challenges--both physical and emotional-- in your life.