During yoga class, you may have heard that mental and emotional pain can manifest in our bodies as physical pain. For example, an emotional trauma suffered as a child that was never fully processed can show up as pain in the hips and lower back. Samskaras, or shadows of past pain and suffering, exist for all of us. Yoga can assist us in soothing the nervous system and quieting the mind, which helps us process and move through pain.
"Practicing yoga has the opposite effect on the brain as does chronic pain." M. Catherine Bushnell, PhD, scientific director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at the U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH) says. What an incredible concept!
We can help program our brains to feel better simply by showing up on our yoga mats. In fact, a 2015 study from Harvard Medical School, Annals of Internal Medicine concluded yoga increased mobility for people suffering from chronic low back pain more than the standard medical care did.
Many people suffer from chronic lower back pain, migraines, fibromyalgia, arthritis, and other conditions, and can feel hopeless about finding some long-term relief. Accessible yoga programs can help and empower you to go beyond traditional medicine and take steps to improve your own health.
Yoga delves into finding underlying causes for some of these issues and perhaps unlocking the key to release the pain or at least offer tools to manage it in new ways.
If you or someone you know suffers from chronic pain, we’re excited to share a new program this week that addresses how yoga can provide benefits besides simply a stronger more flexible body, a calmer and clearer mind, and a greater sense of inner peace. These classes are gentle and created specifically to address students who need particular types of relief from their yoga practice.
Practice Yoga for Chronic Pain Relief, now!