Last week, I was feeling a bit run down physically, energetically, and emotionally. A dear yoga teacher who I greatly admire, Robin Pickering, suggested I might need some restorative yoga. (Side note: Please check out her incredible blog.) Robin, whose yoga extends far beyond the mat, is also a gifted storyteller. She couldn’t have been more correct.
While I wasn’t able to make it to an actual restorative class for a couple of days, I self-prescribed various nurturing poses at home. Thirty minutes of practice in combination with seated meditation proved transformational. On Friday evening, I attended my friend Summer Shirey’s beautiful slow flow-restorative combo class. It was an ideal way to not only check into my physical body, but also organize and process my thoughts and emotions. Sometimes the latter is an essential prerequisite to cultivating greater focus and presence.
This week, I encourage you to practice some restorative yoga. Below are links to various reinvigorating poses I’ve blogged about in the past. While home practice is wonderful, please take a restorative class if possible. I find being guided in and out of such nourishing poses by a teacher helps me more readily find space in body and mind. The experienced and corrective eye of a skilled teacher is also invaluable. You might have read Tuesday’s blog about knowing your cycle. Restorative yoga during menstruation can be deeply therapeutic.
Here are some restorative poses you can try today:
I also highly recommend Yoga as Medicine by Timothy McCall, M.D., as a resource for nurturing yoga poses, both restorative and more active.
Yoga brings stability and calm into every discipline of Sophie Herbert's life. She is an alignment focused yoga teacher (and perpetual student), life coach, and a Whole Living contributing editor. She graduated from the Cooper Union School of Art, where she nurtured her passion for documentary photography. It was during this time that she began her disciplined and diverse study of yoga in New York, Paris, and India.
Sophie has lived, studied, and volunteered extensively in India. She feels grateful to still visit and work regularly with the Deenabandhu Children's Home in Chamarajanagar, Karnataka. In November of 2010, she became an ambassador for Yoga Gives Back www.yogagivesback.org, a grass-roots nonprofit that helps destitute women and girls in India build more sustainable lives. Sophie has also shared her knowledge of yoga at the Prana Yoga Center in Astana, Kazakhstan. Currently, she teaches at the Park Slope Yoga Center www.parkslopeyoga.com and Prema Yoga www.premayogabrooklyn.com in Brooklyn, Sangha House www.sanghahousenyc.com in Manhattan, and privately. She is in the midst of her life coach certification and taking on clients at a reduced rate. Sophie is also an avid cook.
