Yoga teacher and author, Nikki Lynds-Xavier shares the different ways that yoga can help improve your life:
Stiff Guy Yoga
Yoga has had a dramatic effect on my life, life changing in fact. When I started over a decade ago I was overweight, with little muscle mass, stressed from pressure of work and my cardio fitness was so poor that I felt intimidated at the mere thought of exercising. So I thought I’d try yoga, as even I can manage to lie on a mat for an hour.
Like so many of us, I did not have a clue how physical yoga could be but what surprised me the most as walked back to my car after my first class, face glowing, was how well I felt. And the sense of wellbeing lasted for a few days; so I returned to the mat, initially once a week but then adding in an extra class when I could, or practising at home with DVDs. In short, I was hooked.
And today, I’m slim - not Instagram skinny but healthy, fit and strong, and I feel great! But I would say that wouldn’t I?... being now a yoga teacher. So when I was asked for 5 benefits of yoga, I wrote a list of all the benefits my students have happily reported to me. And it was lengthy but I’ve condensed it down to the top 5.
Sleep
At the end of class I will have a chat with any new students to see how they found it and I always say to them “you will sleep well tonight”. And most say “oh good” but some say “ but I don’t have any problems sleeping”. And I smile because I know that next time I see them, they will say “I know you said I’d sleep well but I didn’t really believe it would make a difference. That was the best sleep I’ve had in years!”
And the reason is yoga activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which helps you go to sleep and stay asleep.
Physical improvement
Most new students come to their first yoga class because of some physical discomfort, and some are actually referred to me by their doctors and physios. The big one is back pain. 8 out of 10 tell me they suffer with it and then tell me yoga is their last resort as they’ve tried everything else. (Always nice to know you are a last resort. Still I used to be a lawyer, a litigator, so no change there.)
Amongst other things, yoga lengthens the spine and twists it side to side and forwards and back. And in twisting the spine you are also restricting the blood flow, so as you untwist there is a surge of blood to the spine to invigorate it. The lengthening action pulls the vertebrae apart, releasing pressure on the discs which allows them to settle back where they should be.
There’s a lot I could write about the impact of yoga on restoring the body but that gives you a flavour. And it’s not just backs – feet, hips, hamstrings, shoulders… I could go on.
Cardio
Now this usually comes as a surprise to people. It shocked the hell out of me, as I wasn’t expecting to sweat in my first class. Now it does depend on the type of yoga you choose, and there are many but even a restorative or yin class, where you hold poses rather than flow a series of poses together, can be strenuous. In my classes you may get slightly out of breath depending on your fitness levels but your pulse will definitely be raised, and in some classes like Stiff Guy advanced or Lava Flow which is in 30 degrees of heat we steam up the mirrors but they are the exception.
Stress relieving
Time on the mat is ‘me time’. You forget about your day, your pressures of work or personal problems. We use breath control throughout our practice to help us open into the poses but it’s also a form of meditation. It lowers your heart rate, reduces your blood pressure, and reduces stress.
Many teachers do a shavasana at the end of class, which is a relaxation to restore the mind and body. I believe it’s an essential part of yoga, and my students absolutely love it.
Flexibility
I know, you thought this would be number one but this takes time. It will happen and I see a significant benefit, particularly in the men, who tell me they can now touch their toes for the first time in thirty years. Within about 6 weeks I usually notice new students are walking into the studio more upright, with improved posture. The improvement in their flexibility is grows week on week and they start to feel more like their young selves.
Inflexibility has such an impact on our bodies, it literally ages us. And the assumption is always that my students are middle aged or older but my youngest is 17yrs and I have numerous twentysomething guys who have put so much muscle on at the gym, they literally can’t bend. And then there’s the Army but that’s another story.
Nikki’s new book, Stiff Guy Yoga, is a beginners guide to yoga for men who want to feel twentysomething again. For more information, visit https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/health-wellbeing/stiff-guy-yoga/