2021 was a year in which I am sure I am not the only one who felt tired! Sensory overloads - information over information everywhere: fatigue - a feeling of constant tiredness. We feel weak (physical, mental or both), and all this despite that you sleep enough, eat healthily, and exercise! 2020 and 2021 have not been easy, and so far, 2022 is not proving to be much better. I would argue even worse, given that we have to see an invasion by one country of another country with brutal consequences. We all have emotional or psychological concerns, and the news stresses us one way or another. Some of us may feel helpless, depressed, sad, anxious, and some of us may grief a loved one. Some of us feel lonely, despair about the future, and feel shocked about current occurrences. All this leads to a symptom, that is, fatigue.
We may feel overstimulated mentally and emotionally, inner restlessness, and all this further exaggerates a feeling of exhaustion and tiredness as our nervous system is running "on overdrive".
Remember that too much tension uses excess energy, and this can also make you feel tired. Too much tension blocks the flow of energy inside you. Your blood vessels and other channels are too compressed and do not allow for a free flow of blood and energy throughout your body. If your abdomen is too tense all the time (because you pull the navel to the spine), e.g., you may feel the energy in your chest, but it will not be allowed to flow into your legs and feet. You switch on your sympathetic nervous system (also called the flight and fight response) if your abdomen is firm all the time and preventing the diaphragm from moving freely. On the other hand, diaphragmatic breathing switches on the parasympathetic nervous system (the one that feels calm). So, we must learn how to switch on the core without switching on the sympathetic nervous system!
You can learn this when you come to my regular weekly class (every Wednesday at 6:15 via Zoom). I often include restorative poses at the end to calm down fully our nervous system, and we focus on breathing. Please find out more and email me.
Tension - fatigue - sensory overload - can yoga help? I feel it can definitely help, but we have to make sure we are not over tensing, over bending and overthinking as we practice.
I invite you to a luxurious weekend in the South Downs (Tilton House) in July (22 - 24) and offer readers of this blog a discount. The cost of this retreat is GBP 389, but if you mention "beatfatigue" I will offer it to you for only GBP 369! Places are limited!
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