Prioritising immune health can be the best line of defence.
Here, doctors and nutritionists share their game plans for supporting the body's natural immunity in the coming weeks and months:
Many of us frequently feel tight & stiff, & believe that it would be nearly impossible for us to be flexible, or achieve good posture. Yet enclosed with our skin, we are mostly composed of water & space. Muscles themselves are estimated to be 65-75% water, while our blood is 95% water. If all of this space could be removed from the cells in our entire body, the average human body would be a three inch ball of matter. Denseness, stiffness & inflexibility are illusions when you realise that there is not much to us!
Flexibility is usually determined by the resting length of a muscle. If a muscle feels tight, that's because the nervous system is keeping it contracted when it does not need to be. A great athlete appears to move without any effort because he has so fine tuned his body that only what is needed is engaged, there's no unnecessary contraction, so his body moves fluidly. Contraction occurs when we have adopted habits or alignments that use muscles in ways in which they were not intended. To eliminate these habits, we must wake up parts of the body that are not doing their jobs & turn off muscles that contribute to poor posture habits. In YogAlign we focus on becoming aligned by teaching our bodies to do "less".
The process of yoga is about removing obstacles like excess muscle tension, or excessive worry. YogAlign is about creating a "sustainable body", the most energy efficient body possible. The same way that we are seeking to live on our planet using efficient, natural sources of energy that don't waste or pollute, we must seek out ways to conserve energy in our bodies. Those who are out of alignment & have chronically bad posture waste the lion's share of their energy because poor posture uses muscles inefficiently. When we are misaligned, we waste our precious energy stores, sap our strength, compress our joints, compromise our organ function, and in the long run, develop a life of chronic aches & pains.
YogAlign focuses on:
1. understanding how the body is supported & controlled, and
2. teaching techniques to eliminate unnecessary tension & recover natural flexibility, tone & ease. Our bodies are permeated by systems of connective tissue that align our body through a balanced, tensile force. By practicing safe & easy breathing exercises & positions, we can learn to work with this connective tissue to regain our fluidity, moving more like the water & space that we truly are.
Michaelle Edwards - Creator of YogAlign
Prioritising immune health can be the best line of defence.
Here, doctors and nutritionists share their game plans for supporting the body's natural immunity in the coming weeks and months:
According to psychiatrist Anna Yusim, M.D., immune health is largely predicated on mental health, and vice versa. "Being depressed or anxious, for instance, predisposes you to inflammation and infection, while having higher levels of inflammation increases your likelihood of being depressed," she tells mbg. "Therefore, one of the best things you can do to keep your immune system healthy and strong is to keep your mind and emotions positive, healthy, and strong." Here are three of her favorite strategies for doing so:
In addition to wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, and practicing hand hygiene, board-certified internal medicine doctor Julia Loewenthal, M.D., says that (safely) staying active might help protect you from COVID, based on what we know about how physical activity increases the efficacy of the influenza vaccine. "Though alcohol sales have soared in many U.S. states during quarantine," she adds, "keep in mind chronic alcohol use suppresses immune function."
Though there is some debate about how it affects COVID risk in particular, vitamin D plays an important role in immune support more generally.* "Optimal vitamin D levels have been shown to positively affect the innate and adaptive immune system in a variety of ways including boosting genetic expression of white blood cells, helping the immune system adapt and ward off infection, and managing inflammation," functional medicine physician Alejandra Carrasco, M.D., writes in a guide to the vitamin and hormone.*
This year, mbg formulated a new supplement that combines vitamin D with mood-supporting ingredients such as hops, rosemary, black cumin seed, and the real star of the show, full-spectrum hemp oil. The resulting hemp multi+ can be taken every day to support immunity and promote a steadier mood, giving it some of those all-important mental health benefits, to boot.*
Sufficient sleep has never been more important, as your immune system can't really fire on all cylinders without it. To promote deep and restorative rest, you can lean on a calming supplement like magnesium or take a page from herbalist and integrative doctor Aviva Romm, M.D.'s book and incorporate more plant extracts into your nightly routine. "One of my favorites right now is lavender oil—it's incredibly effective for a good night's sleep, especially when it's disrupted by anxiety," she said in a recent episode of the mindbodygreen podcast. To use lavender oil before bed, simply take a whiff straight from the bottle (being careful not to get any on your nose), run in a diffuser, or add a few drops of the oil into your nightly bath.
Our sleep also tends to improve when it's consistent: Board-certified sleep medicine researcher W. Christopher Winter, M.D., recommends setting a "go to bed" alarm, as well as your normal wake-up one, to ensure that your sleep schedule is similar night after night.
In her episode of the mindbodygreen podcast, Maya Feller, R.D., recommended supporting immunity by snacking on vitamin-C-rich clementines, eating fresh, raw ginger (for its antimicrobial properties), and adding garlic to everything.
Again, these strategies will not safeguard you (or those around you) from COVID. But combined with other protective measures, they can help boost your natural ability to fight infection.
By Emma Loewe
mbg
Thanks Mind Body Green for the article
Authentic Yoga is always a spiritual discipline ... even when the focus is on the body." Georg Feuerstein
Benefits Of A Functional, Therapeutic YogAlign Class:
Begin your self care practice by booking a class today - click on 'YogAlign' in menu then 'Booking' - join me for either a small class (maximum 4) or a private session. All yoga mats & props provided ... just play & walk away ;o)
Love Leonie x
Witnessing this beauty generates love
Be pure love
If you need some guidance in managing your stress levels during this time of transition, I am seeing clients in my studio for private consultations, now we are in level two.
Message, phone or email if you would like to know more.
In love & light Leonie
Contact Leonie Main
m: +64 (0) 274 96 96 33
19B Golf Road, Mount Maunganui 3116, New Zealand
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