Courtesy of Breathe Salt Rooms
In the case of making an attempt out loopy new yoga developments, there’s no must twist my arm (or leg) to get me to indicate up. I’ve perfected my Chaturunga circulation in a 100-degree room to the songs of Drake, practiced a downward-facing canine subsequent to an precise canine (and cat) and zoned out in a soundless area with a pair of wi-fi headphones. So you recognize I’m all the time down for a brand new method to channel my inside Warrior II and drop right into a Crow pose.
In honor of Nationwide Yoga Month, I made a decision to attempt one other class outdoors of my standard scorching Vinyasa: Salty yoga.
Salt room remedy, also called halotherapy, has been practiced in japanese Europe and Russia for many years. You actually sit in a room surrounded by sodium to assist deal with respiration issues and pores and skin situations, like eczema and psoriasis.
“The pure therapeutic qualities of salt are antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and anti inflammatory. Breathe Salt Rooms is without doubt one of the pioneers in bringing this pure therapeutic modiality to america,” says Ellen Patrick, COO and founding father of Breathe Salt Rooms.
The salty yoga class I signed up for additionally happened in an intimate room crammed with six inches of pink Himalayan salt below my ft, and salt blocks stacked alongside illuminated partitions. Along with sodium throughout the studio, there was a ventilator that aerated pure salt for us to breath in.
Like many hip-hop yoga lessons, this salty class doesn’t embody mirrors, so that you’re not tempted to match your self to others. However in contrast to different group lessons that focus extra on constructing power, salty yoga is all about bringing consciousness to your breath. In actual fact, Patrick particularly developed the apply for these with respiratory points or who must clear stress or different power imbalances of their 4th chakra, the guts chakra. (In case you don’t already know, the seven chakras are mentioned to regulate the circulation of power all through the middle of the physique and affect bodily, emotional and psychological well-being.)
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Picture: Ellen Patrick
The Salt Room Yoga Expertise
Patrick began the category after a brief meditation, with cat and cow actions to get air flowing all through the physique. She then adopted it up with chest-opening poses, like supine twists, triangle and peaceable warrior. Prayer in tadasana (mountain pose) and child cobra adopted and created area in my backbone, which felt like I used to be liberating blockages from stress. Contemplating that’s one of many most important targets of the category, it appeared to work from the beginning. Shifting via the circulation jogged my memory of being on the seaside, and it felt tremendous soothing to have the salt rub below my ft.
After about an hour of yoga and a deep five-minute meditation in savasana, I felt rejuvenated, not depleted as I do in different group health lessons. However that’s the great thing about salty yoga: It isn’t about difficult your physique, torching energy or firming muscle groups. It’s about deep leisure, changing into extra conscious of your breath and opening locations in your physique the place air is blocked.
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“No matter it was, the category lastly helped me say “aah,” as a substitute of simply making an attempt to stay every pose.”
Salt Remedy: A Therapeautic Hour
There’s a motive I’ve been slightly anxiety-ridden for the previous few months. My dad, who has been dwelling with lymphoma for the previous 10 years or so, had just lately began one other spherical of chemotherapy. So sleeping via the evening has been tough to say the least — typically unattainable. However I wasn’t able to attempt sleeping aids.
What I like about yoga is that it’s a naturally de-stressing and detoxifying expertise for me. However I didn’t understand I used to be taking one thing with no consideration throughout all these different lessons: Salt room yoga lastly taught me find out how to decelerate and simply breathe.
I believe again to all these instances I used each fiber in me to carry a standing cut up in warrior III, keep stability in tree pose and stability within the tight binds of eagle pose. However admittedly, I by no means targeted on my inhale and exhale throughout these positions. In salty yoga, I truly did. Perhaps it was the salt within the air that cleared up my system or the soothing pink hue of the Himalayan salt round that made me loosen up slightly. No matter it was, the category lastly helped me say “aah,” as a substitute of simply making an attempt to stay every pose.
By the tip of the category, I felt like I had extra management over my breath and a brand new perspective on how I can use it to my benefit in on a regular basis life — together with my exercises. Even higher, I slept soundly that evening, with out being interrupted by my anxiousness.
After all, you don’t must have anxiousness, allergy symptoms, COPD, bronchial asthma or different respiratory points to profit from salty yoga. Each one may use a lesson in merely being extra current and conscious of the breath. If something, it’s a good way to apply extra mindfulness in your day.
You may expertise salt room yoga at Breathe Salt Rooms in New York Metropolis.
