YOGA AT HOME || How Practicing Yoga can Drastically Improve Your Health and Well-Being
Practicing Yoga relieved me of extreme, long-term migraines that no amount of chiropractor visits and massages could fix.
It was probably 6 years ago when I went to my first Yoga class, after chiropractor sessions, spa massages and even blood tests failed to cure my migraines. The migraines caused prolonged nausea that made it hard for me to concentrate at work. They weren’t particularly painful, though my head felt like it was submerged in a giant cloud and I was trying to navigate around in it. Needless to say, the migraines greatly hindered my productivity.
One of my friends suggested that I try yoga despite my personal preferences at the time were cardio workouts like running on a treadmill, kickboxing or hiking outdoors. I thought Yoga would be too slow for me, because my biggest issue was trying to quiet my mind, and that required more action to distract my loud ‘inner voice’.
I knew nothing about yoga back then but decided to give it a try and registered for a 30-day pass with YYOGA. I saw there were different types of classes depending on the intensity level you wanted, such as Hot yoga (for those who want to sweat it out), Flow (which keeps your body moving but isn’t too strenuous), Hatha (focuses more on your posture), and Power (more advanced than flow, at a higher heat level and may involve handstands in my experience).
Of course, I tried all of them and gravitated towards power yoga - even though I had only attempted to do a handstand less than 10 times in the past 6 years. Why power yoga? Because it kept my body moving at a nice pace, which prohibited my usual thoughts from distracting me since I was focused on not falling on my face or twisting my ankle. Also, at the higher temperature, I was getting the benefits of sweating out my toxins. After 3 months of practicing power yoga 3 times per week, my persistent migraines were gone and they have not returned since.
I know right now all of us, particularly for those who chose to read an article like this on how practicing yoga at home can improve your health, must be feeling the anxiety that comes with not knowing how our worlds are going to change over the next few months (or years). It’s a lot of uncertainty, and few of us can really, sincerely say that we LOVE change.
So, I encourage you to buy a yoga mat if you do not own one. You could practice on hard surfaces but the mat would protect your wrists and knees from any possible injuries. Commit yourself to make time to practice yoga 3 times per week, because you are likely sitting at home the whole day working. I know the highest level of physical activity I have throughout the day is moving from my bedroom table to the dining table (my makeshift work station), and from there to the fridge.
Practicing at home with YYOGA is just like having the instructor right there with you.
The new reality is that a lot of us are spending a lot more time at home than we are used to, and working on our health and wellness requires a different approach. As one of the pioneers of yoga in Canada, YYOGA has taken decisive action to close their centers in recent weeks and shifted classes to an online format, working around the clock to ensure that their members can continue to find peace and solace in their daily yoga practice. We commend them for doing this and appreciate how they have made yoga more accessible to all with their new online offering.
“Our goal has always been to make yoga as accessible as possible for all Canadians. With the temporary closure of our studios due to COVID-19, we recognized that in order to continue doing that, we needed to put even more focus on our digital efforts so our community can have access to mindfulness practices that support physical and mental wellness. Perhaps more than ever before, Canadians need yoga; YYOGA will continue to be there for them, offering the highest quality teaching available with some of the best teachers in Canada.”
Learn yoga basics! [20 min BEGINNER FLOW] This Beginner Flow Yoga Sequence is taught by YYOGA at Home teacher Jayme Burke.
If you are new to yoga, new to YYOGA, or haven’t heard of this new online offering before and want to try it out, you can get the first two weeks of online classes free, and after that, it is $7.99 USD per month. You get access to a large library of pre-recorded professional classes and to previous live stream segments. It’s great to practice yoga with familiar instructors and other members of the YYOGA community, and I can definitely vouch for the impact it has had on my health, helping me get rid of migraines forever.
If you are interested in joining the online YYOGA community and committing yourself to more peace and wellness at home, visit this link for their online course offerings to find out more.
Want to join for just one class? You can book a live class for $6 by visiting this page.
It seems appropriate to sign off with the following — namaste.
