Restorative Yoga- A Foundational Practice for Trauma

This transformative style of yoga is a healing and rejuvenating practice for everyone. 

From those experiencing everyday stress and anxiety to those who are going through more intense times, restorative yoga is powerful because it assists the body in switching from the sympathetic nervous system (the flight, fight, freeze, fawn response- FEAR) to the parasympathetic nervous system (the rest, relax, & digest response- CALM). 

It is not only beneficial in relieving pain, suffering, physical illness, trauma and muscle tension, it also deepens emotional awareness and softens our inner critic. It promotes better sleep (an hour session is equal to 3 hours of deep sleep), increases immunity, and resets the digestive system.

You can practice restorative yoga at home, at a yoga studio, or even take private lessons or workshops. I offer a free restorative yoga e-class -here- that you can do right from your bed. 

Restorative Yoga was really the first step for me on going deeper with my yoga practice. Even though I had been practicing yoga on and off for over 10 years, it wasn't until I took my first restorative yoga class that I gave myself permission to rest in a pose. 

At the beginning, I had a lot of anger come up in the restorative poses. Sometimes, I wanted to run right off the mat and out of the studio because it was so uncomfortable. 

While others around me would talk about how relaxed and blissful they felt, I would feel discomfort and pain. 

However, I did notice that I would feel more in touch with myself and I had an inner knowing that I was allowing healing in every time I practiced. 

Doing restorative yoga was where I started building from the ground up with releasing tension from my body. 

Instead of forcing myself to release tension through quick paced classes that prevented me from feeling the sensations, following my breath and easily allowed me to distract from my own inner compass, I started to really slow down and listen to what I truly needed. 

Interestingly, I recognized I wanted to take a yoga teacher training after taking these restorative yoga classes. Little did I know that I was going to have to slow down even more after the training because of all of the trauma that was coming up in my body. 

Unfortunately, I was not able to verbalize what I was going through very much since there was not much space to talk about emotional growth in our training. I do feel this is a missed opportunity but so often I think this is left out in many places in our culture and world. 

All I knew was that instead of wanting to teach yoga when I was finished with training, I felt like I could barely move because my body was so heavy. It felt like it was made of lead and the thought of yoga just made me want to cry. This is where my restorative yoga foundation truly benefited me. 

After judging and criticizing myself for quite some time, questioning what was wrong with me for not being like all the other teachers, I started going to some Y12SR meetings. These meetings are for anyone who considers themselves to be in recovery and often attracts people from 12 step meetings of all kinds. 

This became a safe place for me to share the feelings that were coming up in yoga and I noticed that just getting the feelings and being able to talk, trust, and feel was helping a shift. The movements in the class were very slow and gentle as well and it felt safe having a group of people and a teacher who has been in recovery to guide us. 

After several months (and almost a year and a half after I finished my training), things clicked and I finally surrendered. I recognized that my body was trying to tell me something. I heard it saying...slow down.......just be here now.......start where you are. I heard it say, "this is coming up for a reason, you haven't been able to look at this for so long, now it's time." 

So I did. 

I remember how painful it was to just stand in a forward fold or to lift my leg a few inches. I really had to let go of my ego and feel humble in order to take out self judgment or question or blame myself for how "limited" my practice would seem to an outside observer. 

Yet, I was gaining extreme benefit from moving so slowly. I was honoring the pain in my body and not rushing through it. I was letting go of needing to be a certain type of "yoga teacher" with a certain type of experience that had to look and do a poses a certain way. I dropped all of the identity and just was with myself. 

And you know what happened? Over time I started to incorporate more movements. Did this mean all of the trauma and tension went away?

Quite the contrary. It actually brought more up. My tissues had remembered everything and were finally being listened to. Which led me into the hip and shoulder opening that I will leave for another post :)

Long-lasting Benefits of Restorative Yoga

What are the long lasting benefits of Restorative Yoga?

Healing within the body can only happen now. We live in a society where we feel guilty for being still, or if we take time to be still, we are usually doing something else. This prevents the body from properly resting if our attention is split onto many different things at once. 

Restorative Yoga is a great way to feel supported in being still, when being still is not our natural go to. 

Here is a list of things that Restorative Yoga helps with:

Restorative Yoga switches us from the sympathetic nervous system (fight, freeze, flight, fawn response) to the parasympathetic nervous system (rest, relax, and digest response) within 15 minutes. 

Releases Trauma

Dissolves Muscle Tension 

Increases awareness of fascia and connective tissue (the emotional membrane of the muscles)

Activates cerebro-spinal fluid which increases the flow of energy and information processed in the body. 

Increases digestive functioning

Helps reduce bloat, acid reflux and digestive illnesses

Improves Sleeping Habits

Supports Emotional Awareness

Combats insomnia, restless sleep, and difficulty falling asleep by using one of the most powerful poses in yoga.

Supports Meditation Practice

Restorative yoga is a doorway into stillness for even the most restless person.

It Helps You Cope with Everyday Stress

75 minutes is equal to 4 hours of well rested SLEEP!

Creates feelings of warmth ,love and peace

Helps us get in touch with our inner loving parent and inner child

I hope this list inspires you to give Restorative Yoga a try! Feel free to check out my free online restorative yoga e-course -here-. You get to do it in your bed :D

Jennifer Mele is a licensed psychotherapist, yoga teacher and artist. She has almost 15 years of mindfulness based practice and training and is deeply dedicated to supporting people in releasing their inner critical voice that often prevents them from taking time to relax. She shares her own recovery and journey from living in a dysfunctional and addicted family through her art, writing, and creative healing work.  

Restorative Yoga- In Your Bed!

If you know me, then it goes without saying that you have been personally invited to take one of my restorative yoga classes or you may have even received a private session from me! Wherever, I go, I love sharing this practice with everyone I meet, because it is so...powerful!

One of the perks of restorative yoga is getting to use pretty much every prop imaginable and allowing your entire body to sink into and be supported by lot's of these blankets, pillows, and bolsters. 

This is wonderful if you have access to a yoga studio that offers classes with these props. I love teaching at studios and I even have a small group set that I use for private workshops with clients at my office and in their homes and offices. 

However, what happens if you like this practice so much but you don't have the props at home? 

What if there are no yoga studios in your area that offer restorative yoga in the first place? 

What if you want to develop your own practice so that you can have the amazing benefits of restorative yoga at your beck and call on a daily basis but you don't want to have to worry about bringing your props everywhere you go?

I created this class just for you so that you can practice restorative pretty much anywhere that you have a few pillows and a blanket and even more so if you are in the comfort in your own home. All you need is access to....your bed!

That's right. I laugh outloud as I share this because I think of how yummy, relaxing, and rejuvenating this practice already is and to think you can actually do it in your bed??! No, this is not too good to be true. 

This practice is actually good for you! In a culture where we permeate society with the message of always needing to be doing something and constantly busying ourselves with work, entertainment, chores, and endless distractions, restorative yoga helps us to slow down, settle into stillness, and access what its like to be just be here now, without any pretenses. 

Is This For You?

If you are a creative, sensitive, intelligent person looking for a holistic approach to address depression, anxiety, feelings of emptiness, chronic disappointment, dis-ease or an intense inner critic within any of the following areas: relationships, work, food, body image and life transitions, then you are in the right place!

If you keep repeating patterns over and over again and you can't understand why but you desperately want to stop, welcome! 

If you have found that you are tired of quick fixes that don't work, empty self help promises that leave you confused, overwhelmed and feeling worse about yourself, and you are someone who is willing, courageous, and just can't give up, then you are also in the right place!

My work teaches the information, skills, techniques and compassionate wisdom that we were meant to learn from the very beginning. This place is a safe haven for you to talk, trust, and feel.

It's Never Too Late to Open Your Heart

Opening my heart was something that came later in life for me. It wasn't

something that I ever knew how to do! I definitely didn't learn it at home.

And I didn't learn it at school or from watching tv.  

It didn't seem like anyone around me knew about it either. Actually, I spent a

lot of time learning how to close my heart. Yes, it was a survival mechanism,

yet in my adult life it was keeping stuck and in pain. 

By the time I found help, I wanted my problems to be fixed, but I had no idea

that the answers were within me. I'd been searching for so long, I never

realized part of the answer was to stop searching and to start listening.

For those of you who come by here often, and those of you who are just stopping by, I want you to know that you don't have to do this alone.

That even if you've been looking for answers for a really long time, there is hope.

There is more than hope, there is a solution.

That you are more resilient, strong, malleable, and whole than you've ever realized!

That this strength is within you, not outside of you. 

That even though when it feels like life is really hard, exhausting, and you don't want to go on any longer, that you are still making shifts beneath the surface.

That those longstanding patterns that seem like they will never change, WILL.

That timing is everything and it is one thing we have no control over. That letting go of it is one of the most powerful ways to finding peace .

That all of the feelings you have ever had have made complete sense and it is your acceptance of them that will allow them to soften away.

I want you to know I am STILL learning more deeply about how to open my heart each and every moment and that there is no doubt that I Iearn this everyday from you.      

Healing is an Art

Discovering our true aliveness as a creator and architect of our lives is a warrior's path. Because at every turn, we meet characters along the way that we must learn how to welcome and embrace in order to let our true inspiration shine. 

Healing is our greatest art and creativity is our true nature. I believe your creativity has little to do with creating actual art (though this may be your joy) and much more to do with embracing your strength to

I believe the heart of our creative genius can only come alive when we allow ourselves to talk, trust, and feel and get to know our inner friend and parent that is there for us unconditionally. 

Along the way, we meet our inner critic, worried, tense, hypervigilant, yet a true hero in survival that has protected our vulnerable child within for all this time. Opening our hearts gently and at our own pace, we allow the critic to resign his or her tiresome role and release the burden of carrying on an impossible job. 

This allows our inner child to come alive!