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Aerial Yoga, Health and Fitness, Yoga Swings
Anxiety & Depression: Best Restorative Yoga Swing Poses
Aerial yoga and restorative yoga swing poses
Have you ever woken up feeling empty, hopeless, or worrying about everything? Well, you are not alone and this is completely normal.
But if these feelings keep recurring, then you may be headed to depression. And as you probably know, depression will significantly interfere with your normal daily functioning.
So, the sooner you find a solution to this issue, the better.
The good news is, you may not have to spend thousands of dollars on counseling sessions or expensive medications. Something as simple as aerial yoga can help to relieve anxiety and depression.
Aerial yoga provides one of the most affordable and effective methods of lifting your spirits, lightening up your mood and keeping depression at bay.
Here are some effective restorative yoga swing poses that can help to fight anxiety and depression.
Aerial Lunges
Aerial lunges are simple but effective restorative yoga swing poses, which come with numerous health benefits. They will work your upper back, arms, shoulders, knees, hips and hamstrings.
Furthermore, aerial lunges will increase blood circulation to your brain while enabling the production of feel-good hormones.
When performing aerial lunges, you need to ensure that your yoga hammock swing is in level with your pubic bone. You then need to separate the sling using your hands, while placing your right leg in between.
From there, you need to bend your leg slightly, while making sure the left foot remains firmly rooted on the ground. Once you attain this pose, you then need to place your hand on your hips and then inhale deeply.
You can repeat this pose as many times as you want while shifting the lunge from one leg to the other.
Downward Facing Dog
The downward-facing dog is one of the first poses that you will learn when you join an aerial yoga class. And while it may appear basic and simplistic, its benefits are far-reaching.
It will stretch and strengthen your whole body.
Also, it will require you to spread your body weight evenly, so that you don’t overburden one area. And when you hold it for a few breaths, your body will relax and calm down.
Here are some ways in which the downward facing dog is great for your mental health.
Surrender and Awareness
When your body is supported by the antigravity yoga swing, you will let go and surrender. Consequently, your mind will relax while your body will calm down, making you feel much better.
Calmness and Endurance
With time, you will learn how to stay longer on the yoga swing. And if you hold this pose for several minutes, your body will let go and you will experience mental calmness.
Enhanced Body Functioning
When you are doing the downward-facing dog on your aerial yoga hammock, it will massage the area around your lower abdomen gently. As a result, it will stimulate the functioning of various body organs such as the liver, bladder, kidney and stomach.
It will also help to open up your chest muscles, while boosting the functioning of the diaphragm, leading to better heart functioning, and increased lung capacity.
Chair Pose
The chair pose is one of the best aerial yoga poses for beginners. It’s also a great restorative aerial yoga pose for people suffering from stress, anxiety and depression.
It will work your arms and shoulders as well as the core. This restorative yoga pose will also help to decompress your spine, thus helping you to perform your daily activities with speed and ease.
Also, holding this pose for several minutes will boost your heart rate, while stimulating the metabolic and circulatory systems.
To do this pose, you will sit on your hanging yoga swing, while letting your hands hang freely by the sides. You will then lean back, creating something close to a 90-degree angle between your legs and torso.
If you are feeling strained, you can support yourself by grabbing the yoga hammock with both hands. From this position, you should then breathe in deep, holding your breath for several minutes, breathe out and relax.
Inverted Pigeon Pose
If your work involves sitting or standing for long hours, then tension and stress can build up in your hips. As time goes, you will experience hip tightness, making it hard to do your work.
So, you will need to find a means of relieving the stress and tension in your hips. And this is where the inverted pigeon pose comes in. Doing this pose regularly increases the suppleness and flexibility of your hips.
While the inverted pigeon pose is probably known for its stretching and strengthening of the hips, it will also stimulate your internal body organs. It also offers lots of emotional and mental health benefits.
When you stretch and open up your hips, you will release the negative energy and undesirable feelings stored in your body. It will also help to release built-up fear, anxiety and trauma.
Mountain Pose
Also known as Tadasana, the mountain pose is a beginner-level aerial yoga pose, which helps to improve body awareness and posture while strengthening your legs. As much as Tadasana may look like just a simple yoga pose, it’s widely regarded as the foundational aerial yoga pose.
When performing this yoga pose for beginners, your feet should be firmly rooted on the ground and the back supported by the aerial yoga hammock swing. As you do it, you will connect to the earth, and the negative energy that has been building up will be released.
Whether you are performing this aerial yoga pose using an inversion sling or a yoga swing, it will leave you feeling rejuvenated and refreshed. It will also expel depression and dullness, and increase enthusiasm and energy while harmonizing your body and soul.
Bridge Pose
The bridge pose is one of the best restorative yoga swing poses to open your heart, shoulders and chest. It will also stretch the back of the neck, spine, hip flexors and thighs.
And since your heart will be slightly higher than your head when you are in this pose, you will also enjoy the restorative benefits that inversion exercises offer such as relief from stress, anxiety, fatigue, mild depression, headaches as well as mild depression.
The bridge pose will also calm your mind, making it a great therapeutic activity for people with high blood pressure.
You can explore this pose with as many variations as you want, depending on the area that you want to target.
If you lead a sedentary lifestyle and you’ve started feeling tired, bored, fatigued, stressed and overwhelmed by the ongoing in your life, then this aerial yoga pose can provide relief from some of these issues.
Star Inversion
Also known as the inverted star pose, this aerial yoga swing pose will decompress and release pressure from your spine while helping to center and calm your mind. And when your mind is calm and centered, you will push away the negative and intrusive thoughts.
Given the nature of this pose and the breathing that you will do during the various movements, the star inversion pose will help to boost circulation throughout your body, while helping to remove toxins.
This pose will boost your overall mood and confidence while raising your spirits. By the end of the aerial yoga session, you will be feeling much better.
To do this pose, you will first need to assume the mountain pose, with the sling behind you. From this position, you should then place it against your lower back. Make sure it rests firmly against your lower back and hips.
You also need to ensure your yoga hammock is set at the right height so that your head doesn’t hit the floor.
Savasana Aerial Pose
The floating Savasana is arguably one of the easiest poses to perform on yoga swings. But despite its ease of doing it, it’s also one of the most challenging to master.
As much as it needs lesser physical strength compared to other poses, it will challenge your mind and body in more ways than you can imagine.
It’s probably one of the most important yoga swings poses to perform at the end of your sessions, particularly for reducing anxiety, tension and stress.
When you are in Savasana, external distractions will be fully minimized, thus allowing your body to relax completely. And when your body is grounded, you can channel your mental energy inward, while keeping out negative energy and stress.
Floating savasana will refresh and rejuvenate your mind, stimulate blood circulation, cure insomnia, improve concentration and help to reduce mild depression and headaches.
Ease Your Emotional Stresses
Aerial yoga is a great form of therapy for dealing with anxiety, stress and depression.
It doesn’t have adverse side effects, making it a better choice, compared to other medications and treatments for depression and anxiety.
With this inversion therapy, you will turn your worries and fears upside down, letting go of all the negative energy, while helping to calm your mind.
Regardless of the pose you choose, you can customize it to suit your level.
So, if you can’t seem to find a cure to your anxiety and depression, why don’t you give aerial yoga a try?