Yoga has long been known as a great antidote to stress.
For most of us, day to day life is filled with stress. In some cases, it can be mild, in others it can be unbearable, so finding ways to relieve stress and stop it from creeping deeper into your life is imperative. Yoga is so much more than just physical exercise, though. The key to getting the best out of each pose is to focus not only on your body, but also on your mind and breathing.
Yoga & You
The best part about yoga is that it helps you discover more about your mind, body, and emotions. Yoga can help you become more balanced, calm, focused and relaxed as you go through life’s usual ups and downs. There are many ways to cope with stress. Talking with friends, exercising, and seeing a school counsellor are just a few. Yoga can help reduce stress because it promotes relaxation, which is the natural opposite of stress. Yoga can benefit three aspects of ourselves that are often affected by stress: our body, mind, and breathing.
Clearing the Mind
Yoga offers several techniques for taming the racing mind. One is breath work, as outlined above. Each breath is tied inextricably to the present moment; you are not breathing in the past or the future, but only right now. Focusing on each inhale and exhale to prevent the intrusion of other thoughts is one way to clear the mind. It is also a basic meditation technique. The performance of yoga poses, or asanas, can also act as a form of meditation. The poses require a lot of physical effort and brain power, so other thoughts and worries are pushed to the side. This will activate a different part of your brain and give it a much – needed break.
Clearing the Mind
Pranayama, or breath work, is an important part of any yoga practice that translates to life off the mat as well. At the very least, yoga increases your awareness of the breath as a tool for relaxing the body. Although breathing is an involuntary act (you have to keep doing it to stay alive), you can choose to regulate your breath more by bringing attention to it. Simply learning to focus on taking deep breaths is an incredibly effective way to combat stressful situations.
Exercise
Hatha yoga is the physical practice of yoga postures. There are many types of hatha yoga: some are slow and more focused on stretching, while others are most fast – paced to create a more intense workout. No one yoga style is best for reducing stress, so pick one that meets your level of physical fitness and personality. Any type of exercise will relieve stress as it keeps the body healthy and releases endorphins, hormones that improve your mind.
Yoga also relieves stress through stretching. When you are stressed, you store tension in different places in your body. This can make you feel tight and cause pain. The stretching in yoga releases tension from problem areas, including the hips and shoulders. Relief of low back pain is another common benefit.
Relaxation
Each yoga session ends with five to ten minutes spent in savasana, or corpse pose, where participants lie in a comfortable and simply relaxing environment. While this forced relaxation can be difficult at first, it eventually serves as a total release for both the body and mind. Savasana provides yogis with an opportunity to practice clearing the mind and focusing on their breath. This allows you to go back into the world feeling refreshed and equipped with the tool to combat stress in your daily life.
How does yoga help alleviate stress?
Yoga encourages mental and physical relaxation, which helps reduce stress. The physical postures promote flexibility, relieve tension, and alleviate pain. Yoga poses may help you release physical blockages like muscle knots, helping release emotions and tension. They also promote the release of mood-boosting endorphins, which are the feel-good hormones that can positively affect how you handle stress.
Why yoga for stress relief?
Life can be stressful. For starters, there’s your busy schedule – waking up super early for school, studying late at night for tests, juggling sports practice, homework, and meals. It’s a lot to balance! Everyday issues can add emotional stress, too. counseling a friend through a breakup, regretting a disagreement with a parent, weighing an important decision, or stressing over whether you will make final cuts for the varsity team. With lots on your mind, It’s easy to feel stressed.
What are the health benefits of yoga?
- Help improve general wellness by relieving stress, supporting good health habits, and improving mental/emotional health, sleep, and balance.
- Relieve neck pain, migraine or tension-type headaches, and pain associated with knee osteoarthritis. It may also have a small benefit for low-back pain.
- Help people with overweight or obesity.
- Help people quit smoking.
- Help people manage anxiety symptoms or depression.
- Relieve menopause symptoms.
- Be a helpful addition to treatment programs for substance use disorders.
- Help people with chronic diseases to manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life.
