Our Thyroid does so many amazing things; it regulates how we burn energy, helps with the production of proteins from amino acids, and is the driving force behind how much hormones our other glands send into the body.
There are so many ways you can take care of and support your Thyroid! Three of the biggest ways are
1. Ditching the chemicals from your home (snag my "Chemical Dirty Dozen guide here if you don't know where to start)
2. Drink Purified Water (Fluoride and Chlorine is commonly added to tap water, both have major negative effects on how the thyroid functions)
3. Do a cleanse! My personal favorite is the Master Cleanse.
Along with the 3 physical things above there are a few yoga postures that can also support good thyroid function. Keep reading to learn how these yoga poses support the Thyroid and flow with me at the end.
Now, let's get flowing!
Starting in Sukhasana (easy sitting pose) do some gentle neck, this opens the neck and creates space for energy and blood to flow to the thyroid. When the muscles are tense and tight it makes it harder for both energy to flow with ease, when energy is stagnant that's one of the ways dis-ease starts to develop in the body.
Anahatasana or puppy pose gently opens the front of the body and shoulders. You may start with the forehead down then as the body opens work towards bringing the chin to the ground. Bringing the chin to the ground helps to open the throat chakra physically as well as energetically which has a healing effect on the Thyroid. Again we are opening the energetic pathways to the thyroid through opening the physical body.
Urdhava Hastasana with arms wide and slight back bend again opens up the energetic pathways through the physical body. We spend time working to open the front of the neck since the thyroid is located on the front of the throat.
Here is Salabhasana we are working the muscles of the back, this strengthening helps to the the body upright when we are flowing through our everyday life. With the muscles of the back strong and stable we are able to stand with better posture, keeping our head and neck in better alignment and again allow energy to smoothly flow in the body.
Ustrasana, camel pose, is another back strengthener as well as deep opener for the front of the chest and shoulders. This also brings energetic alignment back into the body to help balance out any tendency for hunched shoulders. Again when we are able to stand up straight with ease energy is able to flow through the thyroid, supporting it proper function.
Sasangasana, rabbit pose, so far we've done a tone of lengthening out the front of the neck, now it's time to work on flexion. We start with Sasangasana after balasana (child's pose) as a natural progression. The gentle flexion of the neck starts to trap some of the fresh blood we have allowed to flow up to this point and helps to bring more oxygen into the thyroid. Also we start working on opening the back of the neck and allow energy to flow there to support the throat chakra.
Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, bridge pose, again has the trapping effect of the blood into the thyroid region. Again with the pathways open it to safe to allow the blood to pool in the thyroid for a few breaths and deeply nourish. Having our heart above the neck also allows the blood to flow a little more easily since gravity is now working with it instead of against.
And finally the pinnacle pose of our practice, Sarvangasana, shoulder stand. As B.K.S. Iyengar states in "Light on Yoga" it is the "Mother" of all asanas. I'll let Iyengar explain how important this asana is in his own words, an excerpt from "Light on Yoga" (page 213):
"There are several endocrine organs or ductless glands in the human system which bathe in blood, absorb the nutriments from the blood and secrete hormones for proper functioning of a balanced and well developed body an brain. If the glands fail to function properly, the hormones are not produced as they should be and the body starts to deteriorate. Amazingly enough many of the asanas have a direct effect on the glands and help them to function properly. Sarvangasana does this for the thyroid and parathyroid"
Hopefully you are now inspired to get on your mat and show your thyroid a little love, set your mat up and flow with me!
My story of how surrendering to the process of birth taught me to surrender on my yoga mat and now applying those lessons to my life & business.
When I made the decision to home birth my daughter after a traumatic birth experience with my son I knew I had a lot of work to do. Dealing with my emotional shit was first, then I dove into the physical work of opening my pelvis, and finally getting my mindset in the right place to truly surrender to the process of birth. Little did I know how much this lesson would impact my yoga practice and life.
Surrender is HARD for me. I do not like to let go. I’m a keep going and keep pushing towards what you want no matter what, but honestly this constant pushing is more of a forcing and it ends up exhausting you and ultimately not getting you to where you want to go. I did all that during the birth of my son and it ended the complete opposite of what I wanted. This time around I knew that mindset would not serve me and that I HAD to let go and surrender to the process no matter where it took me, even if that was to the hospital.
For me to have a successful homebirth I knew I had to surrender to the process, no matter how long it would take. During my pregnancy I had to let go of my Ashtanga Yoga asana practice because honestly I was very attached to the physical outcome of the practice, but during pregnancy and labor I knew this would not serve me. I also had to learn to let go of Mulabandha because my pelvis was over worked tightening in just one direction.
Surrender takes practice. It was an active practice for me every day during my pregnancy with my daughter. I surrendered to my growing and changing body. I surrendered to the discomfort of pregnancy (I am not one who loves being pregnant). I surrendered my ability to be fully independent and ask for help with simple things like putting on my shoes (insert eye roll here). I even surrendered to growing out of even my maternity clothes at the very end. And ultimately I surrendered to intense contractions, allow my pelvis to open, and did the work of breathing my baby down. Pregnancy, labor, and birth were NOT easy, but the process was oh so worth it when our baby girl came into the world in our dimly lit room surrounded by people who loved and cared for her.
Now 6 months later, I am finally getting back to my Ashtanga Yoga practice I am learning how to surrender all over again. I am learning to surrender and have faith I will gain my strength back. I am learning to surrender and allow my body to open. I am learning to surrender into the poses balancing strength with ease. I am learning to surrender to any type of time line or goal in the practice. I am learning what it truly means to practice yoga on the mat so that I may take those same lessons off the mat.
Here’s the amazing thing, with all of this surrender I am truly learning my body. I have learned that the pain I feel in my wrist is because my forearms and hands are very tight. Now most days that pain is gone since taking time to stretch my hands and forearms before practice. I have learned that the reason my external hip rotation is limited is because my back is tight from years of doing forward folds incorrectly. I have learned that I need more mobility in my hip flexors to get into the three poses at the peak of primary serise. I have learned that I don’t breath into my upper back where there is so much tightness. This surrender stuff has giving me the blessing of truly learning my body.
On a deeper level learning all of this surrender stuff is teaching me to detach from the outcome of the poses that I used to cling to so intensely. This practice of surrender is taking me so much deeper into my yoga practice. It is now my intention to start integrating these lessons into my parenting and life off my yoga mat because it’s where I really need it most.
So mama, if there is something that you are clinging to so tightly, open your hand, loosen your grip, and surrender to the process, because if is supposed to be yours it will be and if not there is something so much better for you. Have faith.
With love, peace, & healing,
Mal
Your mindset has the biggest impact on how your life unfolds. Not sure if this is true... just watch the people around you, I bet you’ll notice those that are always complaining seem to always have crappy things happen to them, it’s like they’re a magnet for crap. I’ll let you on a little create they literally are, because what you put out into the universe you attract right back. Then on the flip side you have the people who are positive, and life just seems to flow a little better for them, again that’s because its what they are attracting.
Learning to cultivate a positive mindset will change your life and bring you so much more happiness.
Read on or watch at the end so you can start changing your life TODAY!
Here are 5 simple practices you can do to help create a more positive mindset.
1. Practice Gratitude…
every morning take the time to think of 10 things you are grateful for. It can be simple everyday things we often take for granted like running water and a hot shower or it can be something much deeper, like the ability to have hope in the mists of life’s challenges. Also, do this practice throughout the day. When you notice yourself slipping into negativity, stop and think of 3 things you are grateful for, this simple practice can literally be life changing, especially when we learn to have gratitude for the hard things and people in our lives. You can’t be negative when you’re in a place of gratitude
2. Acceptance….
Let me tell you a story, the transition into motherhood extremely difficult to me. I had a super high needs baby that never wanted to be put down and literally didn’t sleep, EVER! Negativity swelled up inside me as I started to get resentful and then of course the guilt and feeling like I was the worst mom on the planet shortly followed. It just sucked on all levels. What saved me was the practice of Acceptance and applying my acceptance oil over my heart. When I let go of my expectations and accepted my circumstances everything changed. I could feel the negativity slowly slipping away and actually started to enjoy being a mom, seriously the biggest gift.
3. Move Your Body…
movement is so healing and helps our body to release endorphins which is our happy hormone! Our bodies are meant to move, when we are sedentary it starts to clog up and block our prana (our life force energy) from flowing. By keeping your energy flowing we create endorphins and clear the mind. Find YOUR favorite way to move and do it everyday!
4. Eat Nutritious Food…
It’s simple fresh, whole foods have a higher vibration than processed food. Have you ever noticed when you eat at lot of processed food your mood tends to tank? This is because the gut and the brain are very connected and when we feed our bodies fresh whole, food we are feeding our brains what it needs to thrive and it makes it a little easier to have a positive mindset. Now, if your life me and love to indulge with food, I feel you! That’s why the 80/20 rule works well for me. 80% of my diet it high quality, whole foods and 20% is stuff I know isn’t great for me, but it just tastes sooo good. Can’t be living my life without chocolate chip cookies and brownies!
5. Be mindful of what you consume…
Now, I’m not talking about food here, we already went over that. One of the best things I ever did to help improve my mindset was to be super conscious of what I let into my mind. Ask yourself this, what do you usually watch? How does your Facebook page look? Instagram? What books to do you read? ALL of these matters. If you are reading and watching negativity then your mind will naturally be filled with negativity, its simple. The best thing you can do right now is TURN OFF THE NEWS!!! The media is pretty much all negativity and fear mongering. Believe me, if something BIG happens you’ll find out about it, you do not have to watch the news.
So that’s it the 5 practices you can start right NOW to create a more positive mindset.
If you loved this, then I know you will love creating a more positive home environment by ditching the chemicals that maybe hiding in your everyday products.
