When some people think about yoga, they tend to get a little scared. They think of painful, unusual stretching or long periods of meditation. Do you remember the last time to tried to relax and think of nothing? It was hard, wasn’t it? But, as a physician, your day is filled with tons of stress and tension. Yoga for doctors is a great way to reach the goals of physical and psychological balance.
Yoga for Doctors
Do you find yourself with a sore neck throughout the day or unable to relax after treating stressful patients? Well, yoga for doctors is a great way to help with both of those things and more. Let’s take a look at what some of the benefits are from this practice.
What is yoga?
According to the American Yoga Association, yoga is a more than 5,000-year-old practice. It was designed to bring the body and mind together in an overall unified experience. Yoga is a physical and mental exercise built on three structures: exercise, breathing, and meditation.
And while the phrase “your body is a temple” may sound cliche, it really rings true. As a physician, you want to prescribe your patients with a care regimen that will benefit their body the most. So, why not do the same for yourself? When the doctor becomes the patient, even for a day, try something new to give your happiness its best chance.
Benefits of Yoga for Doctors
Yoga for doctors, and frankly, yoga for anyone, will produce a plethora of benefits for the mind and body. Dealing with unruly patients, coworkers, or just feeling overworked without a break can do some serious damage. But luckily yoga for doctors works its wonders on many levels.
Physical Benefits
Yoga has the ability to increase your flexibility, reduce stress and tension in joints, increase strength and balance, and lower blood pressure. When you’re moving heavy carts or patients spend time hunched over in surgery or other treatments, yoga is a great way to alleviate the aches and pains associated with those movements. Practicing yoga is also a way to restore proper sleeping habits.
Psychological Benefits
You’ve filled out and filed countless charts, answer the same question a million times, performed tests, and a magnitude of other duties. You’re bound to feel some stress and while meditation may not be your favorite way to relax, it will help you. Yoga exercises help people manage stress through meditation and breathing techniques. By forcing yourself to step back from your busy life and take an hour to yourself and breath, will reduce stress and anxiety level that can cause tensions in your attitude. You can even apply breathing technique in the workplace without stepping foot in a yoga studio.
Yoga for Doctors: Simple Exercises to Start
Not everyone has to be the best at yoga. And luckily, there are beginner courses to teach the simplest movements. Try out some of these next movements, and your body is bound to thank you.
Mountain Pose: A basic pose, the mountain pose helps to stretch your whole body. Stand with your feet together and your hands at your side. Keeping your shoulders relaxed, raise your hands over your head and reach to the sky with your fingertips. This will open up your airways and allow you to take full breaths.
Downward Dog: Starting with your hands and knees on the floor, make sure your hands are under your shoulder. Slowly walk your hands away from your feet and raise your hips upward, bring your body into a “V” position. Hold for 3 full breaths. This stretch is great in alleviating back pain as well as and tension in the hamstrings.
Cobra: Laying face down with your hands by your shoulders, push your arms upward. Squeeze your pelvic muscles as you create this movement and push your hips into the floor. You should also push your shoulders away from the ears and puff out your chest. This is a great movement for stretching the abdominals and back.
Breathing Techniques: Yoga offers many different breathing techniques to reduce stress. What’s great about these is that they can be done anywhere anytime. As long as you remember to breathe through your nose and count, you’re off to a world of relaxation!
