Yoga Health Secrets

Yoga for insomnia and fatigue 

Having disposed of the questions of how, when, and where you sleep, what you wear and what you lie on, I will now show you some Yoga exercises which will help you if you make careful note of all I have just said. Yoga will help you if you meet it half-way. Unlike some of the chapters in this book in which I have described Yoga asanas or postures which require patient practice, all the exercises in this chapter are very simple to do, with the possible exception of THE SHOULDERSTAND or Sar-vangasana. This may be a little difficult for my older readers so let us try this one first.

1. Sit down on the floor with your spine straight and your legs stretched before you, ankles together. Roll backwards until your head touches the floor and your legs swing over your head.

2. Supporting your back with your two hands on either side of your spine, raise your legs to the vertical so that your toes are pointing towards the ceiling and your body is resting on the back of your head, the nape of your neck, and your shoulders. Press your chin against your chest in the chin lock. I have demonstrated the SHOULDERSTAND in figure 6, page 39.

Keep your body as straight as you can and hold yourself as still as possible. Resist the tendency to move your legs about in the air or to let your body sag at the waist. Close your eyes and breathe as deeply as you can. In the Shoulderstand breathing cannot be too deep but it should be as regular as your restricted lungs allow.

At first maintain the SHOULDERSTAND for only a few seconds but as you gradually become used to this inverted posture it can be held comfortably for several minutes. I suggest that you hold it for as long as you have the time but no more than ten to fifteen minutes. The main advantage of this valuable basic Yoga pose is that by holding the body inverted, in poised stillness, even for a few minutes, the thyroid glands are affected and so produce a powerful effect on the entire organism. Also the blood flows to the head by its own weight instead of it having to be pumped upwards by the heart so it not only gives the heart a respite from its ceaseless work but it also brings a flood of rich blood to the brain and so counteracts nervous fatigue, exhaustion, and other results of insomnia. But the benefits of the SHOULDERSTAND do not end there. Because it strengthens and tones the lower organs it is especially recommended for women after child-birth and those who suffer from menstrual pains.

A word of warning. If you suffer from any disorder of the thyroid gland or chronic sinusitis or nasal catarrh do not attempt to perform the Shoulderstand.

The adventurous among you might like to try a more advanced form of this posture, known as the SHOULDER BALANCE. In this the body is held as in the Shoulderstand but the support of the arms is removed. The arms are placed alongside the body and you are then balancing on your shoulders, neck and the back of your head and the extra effort you have to employ to maintain the body in this position with no support from your hands and arms generally intensifies the effect of the posture. You will not be able to hold the SHOULDER BALANCE as candle-straight as the Shoulderstand but do the best you can and above all hold yourself still. Keep your eyes closed and your chin locked against your chest.

Another variation of the SHOULDERSTAND, slightly more difficult but less tricky than the Shoulder Balance is to keep the arms and hands on the floor, either pointing the same way as your head or else extended at shoulder level, while the body is inverted. Again the extra effort required to keep the body straight and still without supporting the back intensifies the benefits of the posture.

One of the chief beneficial effects of the SHOULDERSTAND lies in the reversal of the influence of gravity on the internal organs. Few people appreciate how great this influence is. The body fluids tend to flow downwards and the skeleton is also subjected to constant downward displacement, and likewise the internal organs.

People with jobs that entail long hours of standing are most subject to varicose veins in the legs and prolapse of the viscera. In hospitals, patients suffering from these and allied ailments are placed on tilted beds so that the legs are higher than the feet. This practice, a modification of the Yoga asana I have just described, is to check the downward drag of gravity.

Nervous fatigue is due not only to emotional stress but also to the fact that the muscles of your back have to work long and hard just to hold you up. By inverting your body there is an immediate relief from this strain and the overtired feeling dissolves into a pleasant feeling of relaxation. The SHOULDER-STAND therefore is an invaluable exercise not only for insomnia but for nervous fatigue, and tired or swollen legs.

As a prolonged Shoulderstand and, for some of my older readers, even a brief one produces something of a strain and tension in the neck, the following exercise known as Sethu Bandhasana or the BRIDGE POSTURE will bring relief by relaxing the neck and at the same time exercising the muscles of the lower, middle, and upper back. It is fairly simple, if you go carefully.