Guest post provided my yoga teacher Meera Watts.
Turning yourself upside-down contradicts your physical nature. However, if you closely study inversion yoga, you’ll realize that inverting yourself has a handful of benefits, particularly to your heart.
If you’re interested to know what those benefits are, here are some of inversion yoga’s positive effects on the heart.
Your Blood Flow
Anatomically speaking, your heart can be found in your chest cavity. It functions to pump oxygenated blood to the different parts of your body by way of your arteries. At the same time, it receives deoxygenated blood which carries waste products through your veins.
Now, because the heart is placed high up in your body when you’re standing up, problems happen with your de-oxygenated blood flowing back to the heart due to gravity’s force. And if those problems aren’t solved right away, you can end up suffering different health consequences. Some examples include swollen legs and feet, varicose veins, and even pulmonary embolism.
Positioning yourself upside down can help improve the flow of blood back to the heart. Also, it can improve perfusion of your blood across your lung’s surface area.
Your Breathing and Diaphragm
Just beneath your lungs and heart lies your diaphragm. It’s a large muscle that’s mainly responsible for breathing. And just like the other muscles in your body, you need to work it to make it stronger.
When your diaphragm contracts, it’s generally working with gravity. It’s the reason why you can feel and see your belly bulging when you’re breathing in.
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