What is Restorative Yoga?

Kate Bailey, PT, DPT, MS, E-RYT 500, YACEP, Y4C, CPI joins the Herman & Wallace faculty with her new course on Restorative Yoga for Physical Therapists, which is launching in remote format this June 6-7, 2020. Kate brings over 15 years of teaching movement experience to her physical therapy practice with specialities in Pilates and yoga with a focus on alignment and embodiment. Kate’s pilates background was unusual as it followed a multi-lineage price apprenticeship model that included study of complementary movement methodologies such as the Franklin Method, Feldenkrais and Gyrotonics®. Building on her Pilates teaching experience, Kate began an in depth study of yoga, training with renown teachers of the vinyasa and Iyengar traditions. She held a private practice teaching movement prior to transitioning into physical therapy and relocating to Seattle.

Yoga is a common term in our current society. We can find it in a variety of settings from dedicated studios, gyms, inside corporations, online, on Zoom, at home, and on retreat. The basic structure of a typical yoga class is a number of flowing or non flowing postures, some requiring balance, some requiring going upside down, and many requiring significant mobility to achieve a certain shape. At the end of these classes is a pose called savasana, corpse pose (or sometimes translated for comfort as final resting pose). In this pose, which is often a treat for students after working through class, students lie on the ground, eyes closed, possibly supported by props, and rest. It is perhaps the only other time in the day when that person is instructed to lie on the floor in between sleep cycles.

Savasana is one of many restorative yoga postures. In the work created and popularized by Judith Hanson Lasater, PT, PhD¹, restorative yoga has taken a turn away from the active physical postures, breath manipulations and meditations that are commonplace in how we think of yoga. She has focused on rest and the need for rest in our current climate of productivity, poor self-care, and difficulty managing stress and pain.

In a dedicated restorative yoga class (not a fusion of exercise then rest, or stretch then rest… which are really lovely and have their own benefits), a student comes to class, gathers a number of props, and is instructed through 3 to 5 postures, all held for long durations to complete an hour or longer class. Consider what it would look like to do 3 things over one hour with the intent of resting. It is quite counter-culture. Students have various experiences to this type of practice, but overtime many begin to feel the need for rest (or restorative practice) in a similar way that one feels thirsty or hungry.

We know the benefits of rest: being able to access the ventral vagal aspect of the parasympathetic nervous system is what Dr. Stephen Porges² suggests supports health, growth and restoration. There is impact on the ventral vagal complex in the brainstem that regulates the heart, the muscles of the face and head, as well as the tone of the airway. To heal, we need access this pathway. To manage stress, we need to access this pathway. To be able to choose our actions rather than be reactionary, we need to access this pathway. Restorative yoga is an accessible method that may be a new tool in a patient’s tool box to help manage their nervous systems.

1. Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times by Judith Hanson Lasater PT, PhD
2. Polyvagal Theory by Stephen W Porges PhD