You have an office to attend, your children are waiting for you to drop them to school, your boss is calling, your partner wants you to spare some time for her and you have to take your parents for the medical check- up. Anxiety and stress are everywhere. Life now-a-days has become much chaotic and burdening. If this stress and anxiety are knocking you down, you just need to take a mat and go for yoga.
Yoga approximately has been practiced by people for more than 5000 years and considered as the mind and body practice. To attain good health, happiness and wealth, a person should involve himself both physically and mentally. Classical methods of yoga include physical postures, breathing control and meditation. Earlier it was only practiced in the eastern world but with the passing time it has gained much popularity in the western countries as well.
Yoga is really magic when it comes to stress and anxiety. Stress and anxiety can be acute that only last for a few minutes or hours or it can be a chronic one, living with you for years. Stress makes you lose your focus and concentration, you become completely attentive towards that one specific thing which is the cause of anxiety in you.
Yoga is one of the easy and most effective ways to combat anxiety and stress, calming mind and body. Yoga focuses on all the three aspects of your body, i.e. body, mind and soul. So whether the stress and anxiety are physical or mental, yoga overpowers all that. Stress is a natural emotion that is connected with the adrenaline rush in the body, creating a fight or flight situation for a person.
You do not always need a mat for doing yoga. In case of sudden stress and anxiety you can do some breathing exercises and calm down your hard pumping heart and fast breathing. You must have noticed that when you are stressed about something, your breathing becomes shallow. It is because your body is preparing you to fight or run away from the situation by using all of your energy. In this situation if you do any of the yoga poses it can make your breathing to be controlled, ultimately resulting in calm body and mind. You can just do a side bend by putting your both hands over the head. Take a deep breath in, hold it as you bend sideways and slowly release the breath out while coming back to the center position. Do this on both sides, repeat for 2-3 times until you feel better. It is an instant exercise for relieving the stress.
Let us know about some of the poses of Yoga that can help in managing the stress efficiently.
1. Balasana (Child pose)
It is the easiest and most relaxing pose of yoga that can be practiced to release stress and anxiety. Balasana calms the mind and rejuvenates the energy of the body. Along with stress it also helps in relieving the stiffness of the neck, pain in the shoulder, hip and back. Child pose heals the mind and body and restores mental and emotional peace.
HowTo Do - Sit on your knees, kneel down resting your forehead on the ground and put knees together. Rest your buttocks on your feet. Hands should be resting on the floor. Keeping breathing normally and stay in that position for 30 secs-1 minutes. Then come back to the previous position. Repeat this for at least 3-4 times.
2. Uttanasana (Standing forward bend)
Uttanasana is undoubtedly the most amazing pose for the reduction of stress. It helps in maintaining the proper blood supply to the whole body and improves the functioning of the nervous system. As there is stretching of the spine in this pose, hence this asana increases flexibility.
How To Do - Stand straight with your hands resting normally on sideways. Now take a deep breath in and raise your hands above your head. Then while exhaling bend downwards and touch the ground with your hands. While doing this, remember that the back and legs should be straight, these shouldn't bend. Hold this pose for at least 30 seconds, breathing normally come back to the starting position. Repeat this pose for 5-10 times.
3. Savasana (Corpse pose)
Savasana is the most simple and ultimate pose of yoga that helps in combating stress. It is the part of all the yoga sessions and no session is complete without the Savasana because in this the person's body goes into deep relaxation and rest. It lowers the blood pressure, promotes sleep and calms the nervous system.
How To Do - Lie down on the mat, for the support you can use a pillow or cushion. Your legs should be slightly apart from each other and hands should rest on the sides. Just close the eyes and keep breathing slowly. It will deeply relax the body and mind as well.
4. Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge pose)
This pose not only stretches the muscles of legs and back but also reduces the stress effectively. Bridge pose is full of health benefits like it helps in lowering the blood pressure, relieves headache, backache, tiredness and sleep problems.
How To Do - Lie down on belly on the mat, putting feet near your buttocks. Now press your arms to lift your hips upwards. Also lift your chest while keeping the face downwards. Keep breathing normally while holding the pose. Hold this pose for 30 sec-1 minute and then come back to lying down position. Repeat this 4-5 times.
5. Utthita Trikonasana (Extended triangle pose)
Utthita Trikonasana pose is undoubtedly one of the best poses to relieve stress. As it includes stretching as well so this asana also improves digestion, increases flexibility, relieves fatigue, stress, anxiety and combats depression.
How To Do - Stand straight while keeping both the legs at least 3 feet apart. Raise hands and keep them parallel to the ground. Rotate your left leg to 90 degrees and point outward. Now bend lateral to hold the calf muscle of your leg, if you bend towards right then hold your right leg with the right hand. While doing this, your left hand should be raised upward and face should also face up. Breathe normally while doing this pose. Hold this pose for 30 sec- 1 minute and repeat this for 4-5 times.
These yoga poses will definitely help you to beat stress. Doing Yoga not only helps you to combat stress but also gives a chance to know oneself better. As it is said truly in Bhagwad Geeta, "Yoga is the journey to the self, through the self, of the self." So do yoga and make your life happy and stress-free.
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