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We live in a world of constant pressure, which is both a blessing and a curse. After all, gravity helps to give us our bone density and muscular strength, while at the same time causing our bodies to droop and drift and sag towards the center of the Earth.
Just as it is important to sometimes stress and exert our physical unit, so too must we find ways to relax and allow it to rest and recover. Using inversion techniques is a very effective way to do this. In a way, sleeping horizontally puts your body in a neutral state, allowing the joints, limbs, and spine to stretch out and relax while no longer in a state of constantly being pulled downwards. Inverting even more takes this concept up a notch.
Practices like yoga and intense stretching have figured this out intrinsically, with certain inverted stretches and movements bringing focused and targeted relaxation via inversion to the body. There are also individuals who practice handstands or headstands almost meditatively as well. Going back in nature, we may have had ancestors who would hang from their legs off tree branches. Up the same alley would be an inversion table, which is a technology that is especially built to allow the human body to invert at various angles and relax while doing so.
Inverting the body allows the spine and joints to stretch apart — in the opposite direction than they’re used to. Each vertebrae of the back, instead of constantly forcing pressure downward towards the waist, can breathe and expand like an accordion, with a natural ease, as gravity assists the skeleton to readjust.
In addition to relaxation of the spine and joints, inverting the body stimulates circulation of the blood and movement and filtration of the lymphatic system. The body is like a big thermos of sorts, filled with liquid sloshing around and moving around the container, allowing the liquid to pressurize certain areas. For example, while inverted, you could assist with getting circulation of blood up into the head and neck area, which otherwise has to contend with gravity to pump blood above the heart. You could also help to drain lymphatic wastes via lymph fluid from the feet and legs, down into the torso and to the kidneys, seeing as lymphatic fluid otherwise has to fight a long upward journey against gravity to get from the lower extremities to the kidneys.
An inversion table can be quite effective while used for just one or two minutes, and very effective when employed five minutes at a time. The angle of the table can adjust from partially inverted, for somebody just getting comfortable with hanging upside down, to full-out Dracula-style inversion of 180 degrees. Be sure and wear comfortable shoes with plenty of padding to hold your feet comfortably, so you can focus completely on totally relaxing your body.
You can find a high-quality inversion table here:
RapidRegeneration.com/InversionTable
Good luck and have a good hang!
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