Yoga for stress management, how to do?

What exactly the Stress is?

Stress is universal. It affects unconditionally everyone, knowing no boundaries. While a small amount of stress can actually motivate you to take positive action in your life, too much stress can weigh on you like an illness.

In fact, stress does contribute to several types of mental health disorders, including anxiety and depression. And if left unaddressed, too much stress can actually cause physical health concerns, even increasing your risk for heart disease.

Stress in the modern world:

No one likes being stressed; it’s just the way we humans are designed to be. So, it’s obvious that just like we feel happy, we feel stressed too.

And it’s not only you; almost all of us feel stressed at least once a day. You can be a student who is stressed for his results or a Teacher who is stressed because you have got a lot of copies to check. Stress is a part of our lives, or wait — an ‘unlikely’ part of our lives.

The urban existence and work culture have surely transported about a great impact on the individual economic status, but it has grossly reduced the quality of life. Moreover, people now have to deal with stress in dissimilar forms in their everyday lives.

It nearly seems like there’s nothing that they can do to combat stress. The bills won’t stop showing up, the day will never have more hours, and your household and work responsibilities will always be demanding.

If you still think it’s okay to be stressed, hear me out: studies find that long term stress could lead to fatal health problems like heart disease, cancer, lung disease, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver and suicides.

Too much stress causes the body’s defence system — known as “fight-or-flight” — to kick in. The nervous system releases a flood of stress hormones that include adrenaline and cortisol. This emergency stress response causes the heart to pound faster, blood pressure to rise, muscles to tighten, and breathing to become more rapid.

Frequent stress can cause the body to be in a heightened state of stress most of the time, which leads to suppressed immunity, digestive and reproductive problems, increased aging, and a greater risk of heart attack and stroke. Stress can also leave you more vulnerable to mental health concerns, such as depression and anxiety.

Stages of stress:

· Stage 1: You will experience changes in your mental stability. You’ll be more anxious and will experience a lack of sleep.

· Stage 2: You will notice changes in your body like a spike in blood pressure, increased heart rate, and similar symptoms.

· Stage 3: The frequency of the symptoms that you experienced in step 2 will increase.

· Stage 4: You will face serious physical and mental issues that will either require surgery or long-term management.

Getting stressed now and then isn’t a serious issue. But in our day-to-day lives, we often become so used to stress that we do not notice that it is crossing the line. By the time we realise it, unfortunately, it’s too late.

When you feel that stress is getting the better off you, it might be the perfect time to hit the Yoga mat and take charge of your life back.

Wait, Yoga to reduce stress?

Why not? Psychology Today states that more than 85% of people who incorporated Yoga into their day-to-day lives agreed that it helped them counter stress. They also reported that they were happier, more energetic and focused at work.

Yoga for stress management and health:

In a study conducted by The American Council on Exercise (ACE), it was conclusively proved how yoga helps beginners to counter stress. After eight weeks of observing Yoga practitioners they observed there was a fundamental improvement in their physical and mental health.

Yoga to relieve tension:

Yoga is a mind-body exercise that includes physical poses, controlled breathing, and meditation. As I stated above, when you make Yoga as a part of your life, it enhances your physical, mental, intellectual, and spiritual health.

The best part of Yoga is that it has many ways of doing it. From complex moves for experts to basic poses for beginners, it suits everyone. Hatha pose is one of the most common forms of stress-relieving Yoga for beginners because of its slow pace and simple movements.But Yoga isn’t limited to Hatha, you can start with any pose that suits your preferences.

Having said that, let’s see what the 3 core components of Yoga are:

· Asanas (poses):

A pose or posture in Yoga is a combination of movements targeted to enhance your strength and flexibility. They are also called Asanas. These Asanas differ. For beginners, they start from simply lying on the floor, whereas for experts, such Asanas mean stretching their body beyond physical limits.

· Breathing:

If you think breathing is just taking in and letting go of air, the yoga gurus would disagree. Controlled breathing is a core element for an effective Yoga session. When you control your breathing, you actually take control of your mind and body.

· Meditation:

The core purpose of Yoga is to calm your otherwise anxious body through relaxation. Through meditation, you discover yourself and feel more refreshed and energetic. Not to forget, the process of discovering yourself is magical!