You Can Relax and Reduce

Are you busting your butt at the gym to sweat off those stubborn last few pounds with no luck? Or watching everything you eat and still can’t lose weight? It could be that you’re stressed-out. And even if you don’t think so, your body might. 

When we experience stress, our brilliant body switches on our sympathetic nervous system - the fight, flight, or flee response. It sends blood to our extremities, so we can run faster and have the energy to ward off our attacker, and takes the blood away from our internal organs - especially the digestive system. This may have worked great for our caveman ancestors who had to run away from a lion who wanted to eat him for lunch, but in the present day, not so much.

Imagine the feeling you get when you’re driving down Holmdel Road at dusk, and have to slam on the breaks because there are deer crossing the street. Your heart races, your breath gets shallow - that’s the action of the sympathetic nervous system. Once the deer cross, you might mellow out a bit, but the chemicals released in the body - especially cortisol - are now coursing through your system. The problem with cortisol is that it holds on to fat, in case we need to store it for energy while we are hiding from the aforementioned lion. Unfortunately, modern day life has us existing in this fight, fight, or flee mode most of the time. (Ever feel a twinge of anxiety when your cell phone rings? Yeah, that’s it.)

So what does this mean for us? We need to chill-out. By activating the parasympathetic nervous system, we can release unwanted pounds, improve digestion, nourish our internal organs, and help the body detoxify. Restorative yoga is the key.

In restorative yoga poses, the body is completely supported, so there is no muscular tension or stretch. The body is held up by props in a restorative yoga pose, so that one can relax into the support beneath them. After about twenty minutes, the parasympathetic nervous system turns on. Blood flow returns to our digestive system, allowing the body to better absorb nutrients from our food and flush out toxins, as well as the stress hormones that are floating around in our system. We’re able to find a deeper breath, oxygenating the body which increases metabolism.  

A few other relaxation practices to try that support weight-loss:

• Take three deep breaths before each meal. 
• Savor each bite, chewing slowly and mindfully. 
• Breathe deeply throughout your meal.
• Turn off the TV or any other distractions that could keep you from being present while eating.
• Mentally say a blessing over your food before you eat or find gratitude for your meal - it helps the body relax and assimilate nutrients more fully

Jamie Segal Hanley is the owner of Elevate Yoga in Hazlet, NJ. She teaches several adult yoga classes weekly and is pursuing a masters degree in Mental Health Counseling in hopes to someday integrate counseling and yoga. She has an interest in all things yoga and wellness related. Jamie grew up in Holmdel and now lives in Tinton Falls with her hubby Phil and fur-ball Lola Bean.