Health Benefits Of Inversions
A picture is worth 1000 words.
There are many benefits to getting your heart above your head. For me, it’s just straight-up fun so the physical, mental and emotional benefits are a bonus. I love a good challenge, and challenging my body in postures that help me to experience and measure progress is something I enjoy.
Maybe headstand or inversions feels like a distant dream right now but I promise with commitment and technique you will get there. I’ve seen MANY students that NEVER thought they would get into a headstand or crow pose (arm balance) get it and they felt so accomplished. It is the challenge that can keep us coming back, I mean that’s why I play golf too.
To look deeper into these benefits let’s start with the physical and potentially most obvious.
Strengthens Muscles- in inversions we want full body activation.
Improves lung function- with reverse gravity our lungs are able to expand more, maybe even beyond their current capacity.
Improves circulation- when we have our hearts above our heads, blood can get back to the heart from our extremities more easily which increases the ease of blood flow which is our circulation,
Stimulates blood flow to the head/brain- our brain needs blood to flow and it takes the most energy to get it there due to gravity.
Stimulates hormones- change in pressure activates our glandular system and our glands regulate our hormones.
Improves brain function- with more blood flow to the brain, our brain gets the nutrients it needs to function on “all cylinders”/
Releases endorphins- endorphins are responsible for our feelings of happiness and other desired emotions. Sometimes coming out of an inversion I can’t keep a smile off my face. What about you?
Increases hemoglobin levels- with increased blood flow all parts of the blood are increased making it so that the body gets what it needs to function at its best.
Improves eyesight- again, connected to blood flow to the optic nerve. Gravity is hard on our entire body but we need it, when we go upside down the body doesn't need to work as hard to have its needs met.
Reduce varicose veins- this is due to the increase in blood flow to the lower extremities when released. Our veins don’t have pumps we when we are invested it’s as if there are pumps that bring blood back to the heart. Varicose veins don’t offer ease in blood flow, these veins are somewhat blocked making being inverted allow the blood to travel with more ease.
From a mental standpoint, there is a level of focus, determination and drive that comes into play when doing difficult postures. When we think we can, we can. When we think we can’t, we can’t. When we choose our MINDSET we can overcome many obstacles. We practice this on our mats so that we build confidence and practice it off our mats. It can be scary to do things that we don’t think we are capable of or to face the fear of falling. The more we cultivate the courage to do new things the more we are able to apply that to another aspect of our lives.
From an emotional standpoint, we are literally changing our perspective of the world around us. With this change we are able to shift the way we actually see things which can help us change our emotions about situations. Sometimes all it takes to feel differently about something is for us to see it from a different perspective and that is exactly what inversion does. Next time you are being emotionally challenged by a situation see if you can get yourself inverted and see how you feel.
So in conclusion, get upside down. Turn the world inside you and around you to a different vantage point. Trust yourself. Focus your mindset and most of all HAVE FUN WITH IT!
