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People who do yoga regularly understand how it benefits mental and physical health. This popular low-impact activity is a great way to improve strength and stay fit. It has been shown to ease chronic pain, help reduce inflammation, and aid in better sleep.
How Yoga Helps You Recover From Surgery
Many patients want to return to their routines as soon as possible after cosmetic surgery. You may be ready to go back to work and hit the gym before your dressings are removed. However, you need to take some downtime to let your body heal.
However, to achieve a great result, you need to keep your blood circulating. Light exercise, including yoga, improves your circulation and helps boost your immune system. It also helps ease your stress, making your body heal more effectively. High amounts of stress can impact your body’s ability to heal wounds. By relaxing your mind with yoga, you can speed up your ability to heal wounds from the surgical process.
How to Practice Yoga After Surgery
If you’ve scheduled a cosmetic procedure, you’re probably wondering what you can and can’t do once it’s over. When you’re doing yoga after a surgical procedure, stay away from complicated or difficult poses.
Some techniques like vinyasa or Bikram yoga may be too strenuous following surgery. If you attempt to work too hard too quickly, you could pop your stitches or aggravate the area where you had your procedure.
In restorative programs, you can focus on your breathing while doing easy poses that help you relax. You still get the benefit of gentle stretches that improve your blood flow, but you don’t have to do anything your body isn’t ready to handle.
Many recovery classes also include a meditative component, helping you clear your mind and relax more deeply. With these classes, you can improve your relaxation and speed up your recovery process.
Common Restorative Yoga Poses
To improve your recovery without aggravating the surgical site, stick with gentle poses that use gravity to stretch your body. Some common poses in restorative yoga classes include balasana (child’s pose), bitilasana (cow pose), ananda balasana (happy baby), savasana (corpse pose), and viparita karani (legs up the wall).
Depending on your surgical procedure, you may need to modify some poses using support or not stretching as deeply. Everyone has a different experience with yoga after surgery, and what’s comfortable for someone else in your restorative yoga class may not be comfortable for you.
If you find that you’re having challenges with certain poses, ask your instructor how to modify them, or return to balasana and relax until the class moves into the next pose.
What to Do After Surgery?
To achieve the best outcome with your surgery, listen to your own body. If you think you need more time to rest and recuperate, skip yoga classes. If you think you’re ready to try something more strenuous, talk to your surgeon. Even gentle poses can open up your stitches, so you may need a brief consultation to check your progress before starting back at the gym.
Tips for Restorative Yoga After Cosmetic Surgery
These tips can improve your post-surgical yoga experience.
Make use of props: Since restorative yoga classes promote healing, they often contain props you can use to modify poses including towels, blocks, and bolsters. These props give you a helping hand enabling you to relax.
Push yourself: Although you don’t need to push yourself physically, try holding a pose as long as you can. Don’t throw in the towel at the first sign of fatigue. Pushing yourself mentally (within reason) is a good way to fully experience the class and aid your recovery.
Be mindful: Restorative yoga is a great place to start overthinking if you’re prone to it. You may find yourself thinking about your to-do list, or any number of other distracting topics. Resist the urge to compare yourself to other people in your class or criticize yourself because you think you’re doing something “wrong.” Concentrate on staying in the moment and feeling your body as you move through various poses. If you find your mind wandering, focus on your breath.
When you’ve had cosmetic surgery, proper healing contributes to a great result. Adding restorative yoga into your routine after your procedure can improve your healing process by aiding your circulation and calming your mind. If you’re ready to make a change to your body, go to marksolomonmd.com for a consultation.