Isn’t all yoga restorative?

Yes. Although we use “Restorative Yoga” to describe a certain style of practice. When we do restorative yoga poses, we use yoga props or common household alternatives to organize our body into incredibly comfortable and supported shapes.

In a restorative yoga pose, your body will be gently held in place with your props. Once we get you set up in a shape, you’ll typically relax into it for 5-10 minutes. We can practice the full range of postures in a restorative manner – back bends, twists, forward folds, side bends, and inversions.

Restorative yoga is deeply relaxing and a counter to our fast-paced world.

Open Awareness Yoga turns to restorative practices for many reasons:

• When the body is extra tired, recovering from an illness, during menstruation or pre- and post-natal, and any other time you don’t have the energy for an active practice.
• During times of mental and emotional distress as a way to self-soothe, process, and re-energize. The poses can naturally bring your nervous system into a relaxed, balanced state.
• As a transition at the beginning of a practice to help you shift from your busy external world to the grounded presence of your body
• As a transition at the end of an active practice to shift from muscular effort and work into a relaxing savasana or Yoga Nidra.
• For digestion issues, as the poses make space in the abdomen and stimulate digestion and elimination.