How Yoga Can Help with Pain

Pain is the experience of an unpleasant physical or emotional sensation and it can have a significant impact on our lives. It’s the body's way of letting us know that something needs our attention.

What role does yoga play?

Yoga is a mind-body practice that combines meditation, breathwork and physical postures in order to bring our systems back into alignment. Yoga:

- Increases body awareness

- Improves flexibility and range of motion

- Strengthens muscles

- Reduces inflammation

- Promotes relaxation

- Enhances overall wellbeing

But how does this apply to specific conditions?

Below we have taken a few common complaints to look at in more detail.

Arthritis

Yoga postures can help to stretch and strengthen muscles, improve joint mobility and alleviate joint pain and stiffness. Yoga can, also, improve balance and stability which reduces the risk of falls and injury.

Breathwork can reduce inflammation, lessening the effects of arthritis and meditation helps to calm and stabilise the system, reducing stress and anxiety and improving mood, all of which has a knock-on effect, upgrading how we feel in body and mind.

Back Pain

Yoga poses and stretches can help improve flexibility in the back, hips, and legs, alleviating pain and stiffness. They, also, help to build strength in the back, core, and leg muscles, and improve posture, which supports the spine, creates more space and helps lessen pain. A regular yoga practice, also, improves circulation, which can reduce inflammation and, through breathwork and meditation, stress and tension dissipate, allowing for a new lease of life.

Sciatica

Tightness in the hips can play a role in sciatic pain but yoga poses like baddha konasana, cow face pose, and pigeon can help open the hips, releasing tension. Tight hamstrings can also contribute to sciatica but yogic postures such as downward-facing dog and seated forward fold can help lengthen the hamstrings, reducing pain.

A strong core helps to support the lower back, reducing pressure on the sciatic nerve and poses such as plank and boat help to strengthen core muscles. Gentle stretching and movement helps to increase range of motion, reducing stiffness and lessening sciatic pain. And, through breathing exercises and relaxation techniques, stress, which exacerbates pain, is reduced.

Migraines

Migraines are often triggered or intensified by stress, but yoga is an effective stress-reducing practice, as it activates the relaxation response, lowering blood pressure, reducing heart rate, and promoting calm and ease.

Yogic postures, such as twists or forward folds, help to increase blood flow to the brain, reducing tension in the neck and shoulders, which can relieve migraine symptoms. And as awareness increases, through yoga, the triggers for migraines can be more easily identified and corrected. For example, poor posture or tight muscles.

Migraines are often linked to poor sleep quality or insufficient sleep but yoga helps to improve both sleep quality and quantity, which can reduce the frequency and intensity of migraines.

We don’t have to live in pain but it is important for us to work with our systems, to listen to our bodies and adopt healthy lifestyle habits such as regular exercise, eating a balanced diet, making time for ourselves and getting enough rest. If you would like to start that process now, check out the Yoga Nidra section on Sattva Connect. Allow your mind to calm and your body to soften as you invite in more spaciousness and ease. Sattva Connect - Your Support to an Awakened Life!