What is Impulse Yoga? Officially, it doesn't exist. It's a term I have coined in the effort to communicate with my "invisible" viewers. It's Self-Awareness; it's Yoga incorporated into your day; it's being tuned in to your own B-O-D-Y channel.
What the body has to tell you is very important. The impulses it sends out are sent for a reason. In Arabia, for example, where it is impolite NOT to burp, there is a much lower incidence of digestive problems. Don't let the taboos of our society force you into poor health. Get others involved in a good stretch, arch, or flexing, too. Tell them that it is detensionizing. Learn to speak your own body language again. Babies know how. We adults have become experts in the vice of suppression — to the detriment of body and mind. LISTEN inward and then do what you're told! There is a reason for your impulse: better health.
1. STRETCH - whenever or wherever your body feels kinked or cramped. Copy the cat. Stretching is tranquilizing.
2. GRUNT or GROAN — whenever you stretch. Let yourself go, totally. It is marvellously relaxing to follow all body impulses - to be off one's guard, for once!
3. YAWN — don't ever suppress it. Yawning is the body's demand for oxygen NOW. It doesn't mean you're bored, at all. It simply means that the room is stuffy. Yawning wakes up the brain cells, makes you alert. So, if you're trying to sleep, don't yawn.
4. ARCH and BEND - how often one feels like bending back in a chair, after being hunched over a task for hours. How often one would like to collapse in half, like a ragdoll. Do it!
5. FLEX and CONTRACT - toes, hamstrings, fingers, whatever. If that is what your body wants to do, let it. Contract, the better to relax afterward.
6. MASSAGE or SCRATCH - be good to yourself, give yourself a massage or pummel that slipped hip. But do it, or have it done, when the body asks for it. Remember, it has a reason for that particular timing.
7. SNEEZE - try not to suppress it, but please cover your mouth and nose. Sneezing has a marvellous cleansing effect, helping to rid the nose of irritating matter.
8. BURPS - may be caused by food allergy, ulcers, gas-producing food combinations or other reasons. Check with your doctor. Burp discreetly, but do not suppress.
9. VOID - whenever possible, as soon as the urge appears. Too full bladders can eventually lead to various health problems and constipation may actually permit reabsorption of toxins into the body. You will find that you become more alert mentally.
10. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY IMPULSES - all the time.
