Healing Exercises – Top 5

Healing Exercises – Top 5
Yoga in the mountains. (Tomas Sobek, CC BY 2.0)
Derek Henry
8/25/2014
Updated:
8/25/2014

By Derek Henry, Holistic Health Coach for Healing the Body

When we think about health, we often think about exercise. Although it is an important part of overall health, I would argue that nutrition is far more important in achieving a healthy body. However, combining a solid nutritional program with appropriate healing exercises will create a synergy that neither one can deliver alone. Let’s look into how you can work these top 5 healing ‘exercises’ into your life.

Yoga

Once considered by many as an exercise for hippies, yoga is gaining serious popularity with women and men due to it’s ability to strengthen the muscles, mind, and increase flexibility. It is one of the most inexpensive ways to improve your overall physical and mental health.

One of the greatest overall benefits of this healing exercise is that it helps develop balance and coordination. It stretches and tones muscles and joints and directs blood and oxygen to internal organs, glands, and nerves. Not only that, it can also help improve concentration and memory.

Anyone can benefit from yoga, especially athletes and weekend warriors. Most sports rely on strength, stamina, and degrees of flexibility, and yoga provides all of these benefits with little to no negative effects.

Some of the physical benefits of yoga include:

  • Improved flexibility
  • Improved mobility
  • Muscle building, toning, and strengthening
  • Improving muscular-skeletal conditions
  • Increased strength and stamina
  • Improved balance
  • Improved circulation
  • Boosting the immune system

Some of the mental benefits include:

  • Relieves stress
  • Sharpens concentration
  • Frees the spirit

For as little as 15-30 mins a day, yoga can improve your overall health significantly, and is a healing exercise you should strive to incorporate into your daily activities.

Meditation

For thousands of years meditation has been practiced as the path to enlightenment, and a greater understanding of the universe. Regardless of your interest in either of those things, meditation is a healing exercise that has definite benefits to the body and mind.

There have been many specific benefits attributed to meditation, but most of them centre around relaxation, concentration, and improved immune system function. More specific benefits include the following:

  • Greater cognitive ability
  • Improved immune system response
  • Reduced growth of cancer
  • Alleviates depression and stress
  • Slows ageing
  • Overcoming emotional and physical trauma

The ability to take a few minutes each day to completely relax and meditate will make your mind work better, improve relationships, and boost your immune system.


(Shutterstock*)

Infrared Sauna

Unlike traditional saunas that use air and steam, infrared sauna’s heaters emit a radiant heat that is absorbed directly into the body. In addition to that, the traditional sauna helps the body perspire at the approximate ration of 97% water and 3% waste and toxins, where the infrared sauna helps the body perspire at a more impressive 80% water and 20% waste and toxins.

Infrared saunas are a non-invasive therapy that can penetrate as much as three inches into the body, heating muscle tissue and internal organs. This helps promote the elimination of all sorts of toxins, including medications, alcohol, nicotine, and other carcinogens in the blood stream. As a result, they can also facilitate weight loss, reduce stress, and boost the immune system.

Some other benefits of an infrared sauna are:

  • Healing muscles
  • Increasing circulation
  • Firming skin
  • Eliminating sun damage
  • Relieving joint pain and tension
  • Treating sport injuries and chronic pain
  • Treating chronic fatigue syndrome

You don’t need to take too much time out of your day to enjoy this remarkable healing exercise. As little as 10-15 mins a day can make a remarkable difference in your vitality.

Rebounding

Rebounding sets itself apart from regular exercise due to the fact that it is the only one that strengthens, cleanses, and tones every cell in the body.  While other forms of exercise strengthen bones, ligament, tendons, and muscles, rebounding has an advantage by facilitating healing of the entire body, including toning the body’s internal organs, veins, and arteries, as well as your muscles and bones, all at the same time.

Rebounding also helps pump the lymphatic system (this system does not have a pump, so rebounding and massage are the best way to promote lymphatic flow) which is responsible for circulating throughout our cells and organs while picking up and transporting toxins and infections away, essentially cleaning us up on the inside.

The best way to increase your physical movement without negatively affecting your joints is by gently bouncing on a rebounder. Your feet don’t even have to leave the trampoline and you can start by doing it for a minute or two, and gently increasing to 10-15 mins a day.


(Shutterstock*)

Laughter

We all can agree that laughing feels good and helps relieve stress, and that fact alone makes this a very healing exercise. The term ‘laughter is the best medicine’ was coined for a very valid reason.

So even though we know laughter is good for us, and we don’t necessarily require scientific evidence, studies are showing that laughter provides the following benefits:

  • Lowers blood pressure
  • Strengthens cardiovascular functions
  • Reduces stress hormones
  • Improves circulation
  • Increases muscle flexion
  • Oxygenates the body
  • Boosts immune function
  • Boosts endorphins
  • Creates a sense of well being

Laughter can be created in various ways, from being light hearted and hanging around those types of people, to watching comedies or shows that engage our sense of humour. Don’t feel the need to limit the amount of laughter you can get in a day, as there are no known side effects with too much laughing, aside from a sore stomach.

Derek Henry, founder of Healing the Body and the THRIVE Academy, used nutrition, supplementation, and a holistic lifestyle to naturally unravel 13 chronic disease conditions that conventional or alternative medical professionals couldn't help him resolve. To date, he has helped his THRIVE Academy participants heal over 20 different chronic disease conditions, primarily related to digestive and autoimmune concerns.
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