How to Incorporate Cardiac Care into Your Yoga Teachings
How to Incorporate Cardiac Care into Your Yoga Teachings
The leading cause of death for men and women is heart disease. There are several contributing factors to cardiac problems and death, including diet, stress, inactivity, alcohol use, and disease. This list of risk factors is daunting, and they can all be addressed with yoga.
Modern research confirms that yoga positively influences heart wellness. Yoga (as a parallel to traditional medicine) can be beneficial as a preventative measure and can be modified for students that have had a cardiac event.
Read on to learn how to incorporate cardiac care into your yoga teachings below from Prema Yoga Institute (RYS300).
Functions of the heart and circulatory system
Basic anatomy tells us that the heart is the lifeblood of the body. This substantial mass of muscle, centered in the body, delivers oxygen and nutrients to the body's cells, exchanging it for unnecessary carbon dioxide and wastes to be expelled.
The Vedas also detail the complex system of chakras in the body. The heart chakra, anahata, means "unhurt" is the home of love, intuition, passion, compassion, and forgiveness.
Through the lens of Ayurveda, the heart is a focal point for energies and bodily systems to converge and pass through. Every pathway passing through the heart influences the other paths. Each of the doshas - vata, pitta, and kapha - take up some space in the heart, and therefore can influence the rest of the body.
As a yoga teacher, expect to enroll in Advanced Yoga Teacher Training courses to dig deeper into this subject matter. A certified, RYS300 school will be required to truly be able to incorporate cardiac care into your yoga teachings. We’d love to invite you to check out PremaYogaInsitute.com, which offers courses like “Yoga For Cardiac Care” in-person and online.
How yoga influences heart wellness
Yoga has the power to shift the body from an agitated "fight or flight" sympathetic nervous system into the healing parasympathetic nervous system. The transformation reduces stress and cortisol levels, relaxes vessels, lowers blood pressure, and allows the body's major organs and functions to run smoothly. Asana, pranayama, meditation, and compassion for oneself facilitate this shift.
The physical exercise and activity of asana strengthen the heart's muscles. Some styles of yoga, such as ashtanga, are physically challenging and build the strength of cardiac muscle. There is also evidence that restorative and slow-paced yoga reduces the frequency of some heart conditions, such as atrial fibrillation.
Yoga and stress reduction
Perhaps the most significant benefit of yoga for heart wellness is lifestyle modifications. Heart disease creates stress and anxiety about prognosis and possible outcomes. Yoga teaches acceptance, compassion, and self-love, which reduces the associated emotional damage of a cardiac condition. Additionally, the yogic lifestyle encourages healthy habits in the kitchen and inspires the elimination of unhealthy habits such as smoking and alcohol use.
Medical conditions often create damage to one aspect vital to healing - rest. Teaching yoga for cardiac care allows the body to move and strengthen while quieting the mind and reducing stress. Meaningful sleep can return, supporting healing and smoothing out the sleep and wake cycle.
Teaching yoga for cardiac care
When guiding a yoga class designed for cardiac care, the primary focus can be teaching your students to reflect within. Communication begins before any structured session, mindfully listening to your student's physical and mental reports. Their dialogue is ultimately their guide; you are there to enhance awareness and promote balance and wellness. Do allow a student space to share any limitations and medical guidelines from their health care provider. Some asana poses, particularly standing forward folds, are contraindicated for some cardiac conditions.
Body scans, meditations, and pranayama allow your student to slow down and process any unhealthy thoughts. Slow breathing exercises are particularly helpful for lowering stress levels and clarifying thoughts.
Asana instruction can reflect what your student needs that day, whether restorative or more active. Joining breath and movement can be the priority of any pace, furthering the self-awareness within.
Grounding poses, like tadasana and sukhasana, allow for reflection and balance. Forward folds like adho mukha svanasana, uttanasana, padangusthasana, and janu sirsasana can be approriate and safe. You can also incorporate heart-opening poses and gentle spinal twists to allow deeper breathing. You may want to offer setu bandhasana, ustrasana, and ardha matsyendrasana as accessible poses.
Modifications to asana are important in a class supporting cardiac care. Asana needs to be accessible for maximum benefit while avoiding labored breathing, lightheadedness, and the impulse to force a body into a shape. Blocks, blankets, and bolsters extend the body's length and reach while supporting balance and comfort in poses. Most heart-friendly yoga poses are accessible while standing, seated, or supine, as well.
Incorporating cardiac care into your yoga teachings makes for a more accessible, inclusive, and diverse class
Teaching cardiac care based yoga is a fantastic way of supporting more of your yoga community. As the physical and energetic center, the heart needs to be prioritized for many students. You can expand your knowledge to serve your students with continuing education classes, or perhaps, working towards advanced yoga teacher certifications and specialties.
There is a place for yoga teachers in modern health care.
Enrollment Now Open for “Yoga for Cardiac Care” in 2021
Teaching stress management and body awareness to cardiac patients is now approved by the American Heart Association’s official guidelines. As yoga professionals, we can translate ancient, evidence-informed techniques to help the students enforce a heart healthy lifestyle, adhere to regular physical activity, increase post-surgical mobility, and reduce anxiety and depression. Perfect for yoga teachers, psychologists, physical and occupational therapists. This is an in-person course with an online option; featuring teacher, Sonja Rzepski, C-IAYT and guest faculty Dr. Millie Lee.
In this course:
Explore how a yoga & meditation practice can significantly support students at risk or living with heart disease.
Learn the cardiac science and physiology behind the "down-regulating" aspects of chair yoga, Yoga Nidra, meditation and pranayama. • Learn the risk factors of heart disease.
Review cardiac anatomy, types of coronary artery disease, testing, procedures, surgeries, and contraindications, with a cardiologist.
Teaching the spectrum of students from - at risk to post-operative recovery.
Adjusting the appropriate yoga for chair or supported supine positions.
Adapting the practice for weight management, depression, and anxiety. • The science of correct pranayama for the cardiac student.
How the Ashtanga 8 limb path and the Yoga Sutras are applied to the cardiac student.
Nidra Meditation specifically for the cardiac student.
Adjustments and sequencing for the cardiac student.
Meditations for recovery, heart healthy lifestyle adherence, and mental balance.
How to use the doshas (body/personality types) diagnostically in teaching cardiac students.
*Students may take this course as an online option; please see pricing below.
Enroll in Online Advanced Yoga Teacher Trainings at PremaYogaInsitute.com
Prema Yoga Institute is longer limited to New York City and is now available online with interactive trainings through 2022. PYI is an IAYT-accredited program based in New York city with a certified Yoga Alliance RYS300, teaching students around the globe through online classes. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you advance your yoga practice and teaching!
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