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Simple yoga poses for a better sleep

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<b>Sarah</b><br>Ālaya Yoga

Sarah
Ālaya Yoga

Simple yoga poses for a better sleep

WHY IS SLEEP SO IMPORTANT?

Many people suffer from a lack of good sleep. Have you ever found yourself tossing and turning in bed struggling to fall asleep or waking up in the middle of the night unable to go back to bed? Many people suffer from the lack of good sleep which can affect your health, mood, and interfere with your day-to-day activities. It can lead to a range of disorders and mental health problems.

Lots of things can disrupt a healthy sleep cycle. Stress, anxiety, health issues or even noise pollution are all some common factors that can contribute to your lack of sleep. Sometimes, our brain is just overstimulated which can make it hard for our mind and body to drift off. But what happens when we are unable to get some shut-eye?

Sleep is important for brain development. It’s when all the information, experiences and memories that we take in during the day are processed by our brain. New neural pathways are formed, our body heals and restores itself by repairing and regenerating nerve cells and tissues. It’s when our mind organizes all the information, feelings and thoughts that we experience daily so that we can start the next day with renewed energy.

The lack of good sleep can result in feelings of tiredness and fatigue. You may feel restless or have mood swings during the day, or you may find it harder to focus and concentrate on things. People who experience insomnia for long periods of time may also become easy targets for anxiety, stress, and depression. You may find it hard to make decisions at work or find it harder to focus on your studies. Extreme sleep deprivation can even cause hallucinations and erratic behaviour.

Different people need different amounts of sleep but 6-9 hours of sleep is generally considered a good amount of sleep for most people. 

YOGA AND SLEEP

Yoga can be an incredible tool to combat sleep deprivation or insomnia. The practise of yoga involves doing asanas that can help your body release all the tension that it may store. If you feel tight in your joints and muscles, the practice of yoga asanas can help you stretch and loosen up those tight muscles so your body can relax, rejuvenate and heal itself.

Pranayama is the use of breathwork to calm your mind and your nervous system. This union of the mind and body is what makes yoga as effective as it is when it comes to having a good night’s sleep. Meditation can help calm an overactive brain and prepare it for a good night’s rest while holding certain yoga asanas can help prepare your body for sleep.

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YOGA ASANAS TO HELP WITH SLEEP -

It’s been determined in several studies that people who practice yoga regularly generally have consistent sleep cycles. Next time you find yourself having a tough time falling asleep, just roll out your yoga mat for a quick yoga practice. Even doing a short practice that focuses on pranayama and restoration can leave you feeling ready for bedtime. You can even try doing some of these poses and meditative exercises in bed.

Yoga practices that can contribute to a night of healthy sleep -

Yoga Nidra is one of the easiest yoga practices to maintain. It involves commanding a relaxation response from your body through the use of meditative techniques. Generally, a yoga Nidra practice would be guided by a teacher to help you reach a state of complete relaxation and conscious awareness.

Pranayama is the practice of breath control. By learning to control your breath, you can learn to calm your thoughts and emotions, which can in turn calm an overactive mind.

Yin yoga can help you get deeper in your stretches and help you feel more relaxed while also helping you slow down your heart rate.

Using props in your yoga practice such as blankets bolsters, cushions, or using meditative guides such as singing bowls, calming music, sound baths etc can help your mind and your body be more focused on reaching a state of sleep and calm.



Yoga asanas that can help relieve tension from your muscles and calm your mind -

STANDING FORWARD FOLD (UTTANASANA)

Try bending your knees and holding opposite elbows while gently swaying side to side to find even more relaxation and stretch in this pose. It slows the heart rate.

LEGS UP THE WALL POSE (VIPARITA KARANI)

This pose is great for calming an overstimulated brain. The benefits of this asana are best felt when it is held for an extended period of time. It can help release tension from the back while all the blood from the legs rushes down to the heart helping you feel more relaxed.

RECLINING BUTTERFLY (SUPT BADDHA KONASANA)

Reclining the butterfly pose helps you stretch out all the big muscle groups in your body, like your spine and your hamstrings. Try putting one hand on your belly and the other on your chest so that you can really focus on your inhalations and exhalations.

CHILD’S POSE (SHISHUASANA)

Child’s pose is an active rest position that gently works wonders for your back. It helps calm the nervous system and release any tension from the mind.

CORPSE POSE (SAVASANA)

Savasana is done at the end of a yoga routine and it’s when you direct your focus to your breath, while the body can begin working on restoration and relaxation to reach a state of calm. 

Conclusion

The lack of good sleep can affect our daily lives and routines. Yoga is easy, tried and proven method for regulating your sleep cycle and sleep habits that in turn contributes to improved productivity and health.

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Yoga for Cycling Injuries

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<b>Sarah</b><br>Ālaya Yoga

Sarah
Ālaya Yoga

Yoga for Cycling Injuries

Common cycling injuries and how yoga can help in their prevention

 

Cycling is a demanding sport that requires both your mind and your body to be primed and focused. Cycling as a sport increases your strength and tones your muscles. It takes you to the outdoors and helps you connect with nature while also enhancing your focus and presence of mind, and it has so many other benefits. Cycling can enhance your coordination, improve the health of your heart and your cardiovascular fitness, and also help build your stamina.

But along with all of these great benefits that cycling offers, it is also a very demanding sport. The repetitive motions involved in cycling can lead to you feeling stiff. It can alter your posture as well as leave you feeling tight in your muscles. This repetitive use of your joints and muscles is also one of the reasons why cycling is often a cause of injury.

This is where yoga can help. Yoga is a full-body practice that can help you build flexibility and strength and regular practice can enhance the quality of your ride. Athletes can use yoga to improve functional strength relevant to cycling as well as all-around strength to prevent cycling injuries. Yoga also builds your stamina so you can cycle for longer periods of time. Doing a few yoga stretches before and after a cycling session has countless positive effects on your body. Cycling is a mentally and physically demanding sport, but by incorporating yoga in your practice you can reduce the stress and tension that cycling puts on your mind and your body before a cycling session as a warm-up, during the training session through the use of conscious breathwork, and after a session as part of your cool-down routine.

Cycling involves the use of some big muscle groups and important joints in your body such as your lower back, hamstrings, calves, feet, shoulders, and knee. The lack of a good warm-up or a cool-down routine can help avoid the misuse or overuse of these muscle groups and joints. Any injury to these areas can result in pain that can make it hard to go about your day-to-day activities. cycling injuries. A good warm-up primes and prepares your body, muscles and joints so it can deliver the best performance.

Yoga is a full-body practice that can help you build flexibility and strength and regular practice can enhance the quality of your ride.

Some common cycling injuries -

• Muscle sprains
• Lower back pain
• Knee pain
• Shoulder injuries
• Achilles tendonitis
• Foot pain and numbness
Yoga for immunity

How Yoga Prevents Cycling Injuries

Yoga can help counteract these risks in a number of ways. Through regular practice, yoga can not only reduce the frequency of injuries but also help prevent them by keeping your muscles and joints in good shape.

Yoga enhances balance, coordination, and focus -

The breathwork involved in a good yoga practice enhances your coordination and focus. It teaches you to find the calm within yourself even when you’re under stressful and demanding situations and can help focus your mind. Certain grounding yoga asanas can  also help enhance your balance on and off the bike. 

Yoga improves the durability and the mobility of joints -

Most cycling injuries are caused due to the repetitive motions involved in cycling that can cause your muscles and your joints to feel stiff over time. This is when the joints are most prone to injuries. Yoga can help strengthen these joints and muscles as well as enhance your range of motion so that your joints are better equipped to handle the sport.

Yoga improves joint alignment -

Practising yoga regularly will bring you more aware of your own body and the little changes you make in your form and alignment on your yoga mat will help you on the bike as well. This in turn will enhance your performance when you’re cycling and will help you become more aware of any postural or subtle movements that you may be doing wrong.

Yoga improves strength and flexibility -

Cycling requires your muscles to be in good shape, and through the practice of yoga, you can ensure that your body is working at its best. Many yoga poses are targeted towards building your strength and improving your flexibility, both of which are incredibly important when it comes to cycling.

More efficient breathing -

Another really important benefit of incorporating yoga into your cycling routine is the breathwork that comes with it. Yoga is a spiritual practice. Pranayama or yoga breath involves the use of deep, controlled and conscious breath that offers many benefits to your mind and your body. When you ride for longer periods of time, you may often begin to feel out of breath. Yoga can help increase your lung capacity and the practice of conscious breathing can help you cycle more efficiently by using your breath more efficiently. 

 

Conclusion

Yoga can help you feel more in touch with your surroundings through the use of meditative techniques along with all the physical benefits that it offers. It can help prepare your muscles for a ride, reduce the risk of injury, and restore and rejuvenate your body after a long cycling session. 

alaya Yoga official yoga partner of cycling ireland

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Yoga Poses for Beginners

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<b>Monica</b><br>Ālaya Yoga

Monica
Ālaya Yoga

Yoga Poses for Beginners

Beginning your Yoga Journey? Here is a list of 5 yoga poses for beginners to start with.

Many of the things we do for fitness today involves rigorous strength training, such as weight training, running and cardio, but all of this comes at the expense of flexibility and the mental relaxation and mindfulness that yoga provides.

Along with the physical benefits of yoga, the breathwork involved in yoga allows our body to obtain the most benefits out of each physical posture we do.

If you find yourself intimidated to start your yoga journey, or maybe you’ve just been out of touch with your yoga practice and would like to start again, here are a few yoga poses for beginners you can try the next time you’re on the mat.

Finding yourself intimidated to start your yoga journey, here are a few yoga poses for beginners you can try the next time you’re on the mat.

Seated Forward Fold

A seated forward fold is a relaxing yet active stretch that improves flexibility as well as lengthens the spine and stretches your entire body. This pose helps relieve a lot of the stress that we hold in our bodies along with providing a gentle stretch to all the big muscle groups in our body.

Benefits of this pose:

  • Lengthens and stretches the spine, as well as provides a gentle stretch to the entire body
  • Massages the digestive organs, and relieves digestive problems such as constipation
  • Great for problems with the sciatica
  • Relaxing and gentle stretch for the hamstrings and the backs of the legs
  • Calms the nervous system and relaxes the mind

Beginners tip:

Even though this is a foundational yoga pose, a lot of yoga practitioners struggle with this pose. If you find yourself unable to reach your feet with your hands, rest your hands on your shins as you fold forward with your palms facing upwards as you keep your focus on lengthening your spine.

Downward Facing Dog

The downward-facing dog is a wonderful foundational yoga asana that strengthens and stretches our entire body. This pose can sometimes feel challenging but over time with repetition, one can achieve all the great benefits that this pose offers.

Benefits of this pose:

  • The downward-facing dog is equal parts stretching and strengthening for the entire body
  • Opens as well as strengthens the shoulders
  • Stretches the calves and the feet
  • Lengthens the hamstrings

Beginners tip:

This asana offers a deep stretch to our upper body as well as lower body. To start with, keep your knees bent and keep your attention on lengthening through the spine. You can also walk out your feet to engage both your legs individually.

If this pose feels challenging for you, try a puppy pose to start out with. Bring your knees down to the ground, and stretch your arms forward while lifting your hips and arching your back.

Bridge Pose

Bridge pose is a chest opening yoga asana. It is typically performed towards the end of a yoga session. It provides a gentle stretch to the back and one can reap the benefits of an inversion without physically being upside down.

Benefits of this pose:

  • Stretches the chest, neck and shoulders and lengthens the spine.
  • Calms the mind and the body and is a wonderful stretch for cooling the body down.
  • Strengthens the calves, hamstrings, glutes as well as ankles.
  • Opens the chest and the heart.
  • Helps relieve menstrual discomfort.

Beginners tip:

This pose can be strengthening as well as restorative. While the more advanced variation involves interlacing your fingers underneath your back, you can also place your palms flat on the ground next to you to provide more stability. Lift your hips and place a bolster, cushion or yoga block directly underneath the sacrum to provide support to your lower back.

Triangle Pose

Triangle pose is a standing pose that is great for both advanced as well as beginner yoga practitioners as this asana has many variations one can use. It’s a great pose that improves both your physical and mental health.

Benefits of this pose:

  • This pose strengthens your core, in turn improving your stability.
  • Stretches and lengthens the spine while also improving spine mobility.
  • Targets the lower back, where people often carry a lot of tension resulting in reduced anxiety.
  • Opens and stretches the hips and the shoulders.

Beginners tip:

If it’s challenging to reach the floor with your hand, you can reach for your shin or your knee. Another variation is resting your elbow on your knee to provide more stability and support.

Child Pose

The child’s pose is a gentle beginner pose. Even though this pose may feel like rest, you’re actively engaging your back as well as your hips to achieve a gentle stretch throughout your body. It works as a great stretch to warm up your body before getting into more advanced poses. It also gives you the chance to reconnect with your breath.

Benefits of this pose:

  • A gentle stretch for the back, ankles, hips ad the spine
  • It can help relieve back pain
  • Active rest for the body during your yoga practice
  • Relaxes the mind and the body

Beginners tip:

This pose can be very calming and restorative. You can keep your knees together or separated depending on whichever pose feels more comfortable to your body. To achieve even more relaxation, place a cushion or a bolster underneath your chest for additional support.

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5 Reasons Why You Should Try Yoga

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why you should try yoga
why you should try yoga
<b>Monica</b><br>Ālaya Yoga

Monica
Ālaya Yoga

5 Reasons Why You Should Try Yoga

Here are 5 Reasons why everyone should try yoga

Yoga is often defined as a form of exercise in which you practice poses that help you relax your mind, become more flexible and improve your strength. Yoga, however, is so much more than just that. It’s a practice that perfectly combines breathwork, meditation and mindfulness to tackle everyday stresses as well as ease our minds of any anxiety we may feel on the regular. Through the practice of Asana and breathwork, yoga improves our mobility, flexibility and strength, targeting our mental, physical and spiritual well being.

Yoga practitioner is encouraged to keep their focus on their breath and to practice mindfulness to get the most out of each pose. The daily practice of yoga can help you feel more centred throughout your day, helping ease the stresses that we face regularly in today’s world where people have looming deadlines, rush hours and workloads. It can help you feel more balanced in your approach to life. Other than these benefits from the practice, yoga can also help hasten the healing time in medical ailments such as insomnia, depression, arthritis etc and has mental and physical health benefits for people of all age groups. Yoga can be modified for different people based on their level of fitness, age, and disabilities.

In this article, I’ll talk a little more about some of the most popular reasons people practice yoga.

A yoga practitioner is encouraged to keep the focus on their breath and to practice mindfulness to get the most out of each pose.

Yoga improves strength, mobility and flexibility

The most obvious benefits of making yoga a part of your daily practice and routine are the physical benefits to your body. Yoga helps increase blood circulation in our bodies through the practice of asana’s, many of which target specific locations in our body.

So many people today spend hours upon hours on a chair working, which can often lead to neck and back pain and can even cause irreversible changes to our posture and our spine. Something as simple as doing a sun salutation can help open up your chest, and stretch out your back and reverse the effects of sitting still for extended periods of time. Yoga also involves stretches that if done regularly can help us become more flexible and can improve our strength. One can even alter their daily practice based on what they want to target.

Yoga can help with insomnia

Yoga can help people who suffer from insomnia and poor or irregular sleep patterns. Studies have shown that people who practice yoga before bed find it easier to drift off to sleep as your physical body as well as your mind is more at ease. It can help prepare our mind and our body not only to fall asleep but to stay asleep. Meditation is also a great tool to use when you’re lying awake in bed. When you’re in a meditative state, your mind has the chance to revisit each problem and put it to rest, and this process of mentally putting an end to the day can help calm an overactive brain.

Studies have shown that people who practice yoga before bed find it easier to drift off to sleep...

Yoga can help manage and prevent anxiety

Our bodies are complex structures that hold emotions, thoughts and feelings in their alignment. Holding our bodies in particular positions can provoke thoughts and feelings associated with that pose, for example, people with an open chest and their shoulders back and down maybe habitually more receptive and open to the world around them, while people with a hunched back may suffer from issues of self-esteem.

Anxiety can manifest in our body in 2 physical ways, through our muscles and our breath, i.e., our body becomes stiff and tense while our breath quickens.

• Here are 8 breathing exercises for anxiety you can try right now.

By learning how to manage our breath through the practice of pranayama and being more informed about the alignment of our own bodies, we can manage anxiety more efficiently as well as avoid panic attacks before they even occur.

Studies have shown that people who practice yoga regularly have more energy throughout the day.

Health benefits of yoga

As a lifestyle choice, yoga has proven to help with multiple health issues and is recommended by medical professionals all over the world as a complementary health approach and a holistic health practice.

– Practising yoga can lower the risk of heart disease and is recommended as a preventative measure especially for patients who have suffered from cardiac arrest.

– Yoga can also help reduce chronic stress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia as well as chronic arthritis.

– It can help improve our overall brain health, especially brain functions such as attention and memory.

– Yoga is also great for improving your balance, which is all the more important for people who are older.

– It can help boost our immune system as well as help with thyroid issues such as hyperthyroidism as well as hypothyroidism.

– The practice of yoga can even help prevent diabetes.

– Pranayama is also great for the health of our lungs and can help us improve the quality of our breath.

These are just some of the many health benefits that yoga provides. With regular practice, yoga can help us lead healthier as well as more balanced lives.

Yoga can help improve our moods, temperament and stress levels

We face stressors in our daily lives, be it at home, work or even in social situations and stress can become a habit just like anything else. This constant low-stress mode we face throughout the day can impact how we think, how we act, and even our posture. They can gradually become the root cause of physical and mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety and chronic pains.

Yoga can help boost our moods so we feel negative emotions less often. People who suffer from poor anger management and suffer short tempers can also benefit from yoga through the practice of pranayama and mindfulness and is often recommended by therapists. 

Yoga is more than just a form of exercise, it is a lifestyle choice that can help improve our mental and physical health. The next time you’re feeling stiff, stressed out or just low, do a small yoga practise and see how it affects your mind and your body. Over on the Ālaya Yoga platform we’ve got loads of great express classes on our live schedule as well as in our video back so you can practice anytime.

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 Chanting Mantras

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