Inversions

I have been practicing inversions a lot lately and been teaching them regularly in my classes. This way of inverting your body I find helps me reposition my inner self, find clarity, and let stress and judgement fall away. Literally switching my mood to a more accepting one. Its amazing what an inversion will do. John Friend writes in The Anusara Teacher Training Manual "The agitations of the rational mind are dissolved and clarity of perception is enhanced". BJ Galvan has encouraged me to do handstands in the bathroom before a meeting or anything you might need a little boost for. FYI BJ is founder of Handstand Anonymous.

We also help out  our lypmpth system out when we invert ourselves. An inversion is any pose where your heart is above your head, and in some inversion your feet andy our heart are above your head. This is so beneficial to the lymphatic system because it is a closed system which means there is no pump, unlike the respiratory system which is pumped by your lungs or the cardiovascular system which pumped by your heart. The lymphatic system has one way valves that move lympth toward the heart. However for a moment think about how hard that would be. We spend all day right side up, so the lympth has to pump up stream of gravity. So when we invert we help the lympth travel more easily. The lymphatic system has lots of white blood cells that are responsible for fighting bacteria and other disease causing micro organisms. A regular inversion practice helps keep your immunity system strong.

Another benefit of inversions is back relief from being upright which causes gravity to upp on your spin. This compression causes loads of back pain. Inverting is a way of counteracting the pull of gravity. I was at my friends house and he has an inversion table and we had a great converstation about inversions as my feet were strapped into the board and I dangled upside down. Creating space in the spine benefits spinal disc problmes, strengthens ligaments, and relieves myscle spasms.

So my challenge to you and myself is to do 5 mins of inversions a day for 2 weeks.