Stress Management By Yoga

Yoga is very good for stress. It offers gentle asanas, relaxation, pranayama, meditation, shat kriyas and hand mudras. The complete breath exercise, can be done at your desk, in the car or anywhere else when you start to feel stressed out. Meditation helps calm your mind, teaching you to relax at will and giving you a quick mental vacation whenever you need one. And daily practice of three or four yoga poses will help ease knotted muscles. Try varying the poses daily to keep your interest high and to strengthen different parts of your body.What?s Involved?: The practice of yoga involves stretching the body and forming different poses, while keeping breathing slow and controlled. The body becomes relaxed and energized at the same time. There are various styles of yoga, some moving through the poses more quickly, almost like an aerobic workout, and other styles relaxing deeply into each pose. Some have a more spiritual angle, while others are used purely as a form of exercise.

What Are The Benefits Of Yoga?: Virtually everyone can see physical benefits from yoga, and its practice can also give psychological benefits, such as stress reduction and a sense of well-being, and spiritual benefits, such as a feeling of connectedness with God or Spirit, or a feeling of transcendence. Certain poses can be done just about anywhere and a yoga program can go for hours or minutes, depending on one?s schedule. Meditation is wonderful in that it?s free, always available, and amazingly effective in short-term stress reduction and long-term health. Benefits can be felt in just one session. An experienced teacher is necessary but you can also learn to meditate from a book or from the resources on this site or Contact The Best Yoga Therapist & Instructer To Learn Meditation & Yoga For Stress Reduction.

How Can I Manage Stress Better?

Identifying unrelieved stress and being aware of its effect on our lives is not sufficient for reducing its harmful effects. Just as there are many sources of stress, there are many possibilities for its management. However, all require work toward change: changing the source of stress and/or changing your reaction to it. How do you proceed?

1. Become aware of your stressors and your emotional and physical reactions.
   Notice your distress. Don't ignore it. Don't gloss over your problems.
   Determine what events distress you. What are you telling yourself about meaning of these events?
   Determine how your body responds to the stress. Do you become nervous or physically upset? If so, in what specific ways?

2. Recognize what you can change.
   Can you change your stressors by avoiding or eliminating them completely?
   Can you reduce their intensity (manage them over a period of time instead of on a daily or weekly basis)?
   Can you shorten your exposure to stress (take a break, leave the physical premises)?
   Can you devote the time and energy necessary to making a change (goal setting, time management techniques, and delayed gratification strategies may be helpful here)?

3. Reduce the intensity of your emotional reactions to stress.
   The stress reaction is triggered by your perception of danger...physical danger and/or emotional danger. Are you viewing your stressors in exaggerated terms and/or taking a difficult situation and making it a disaster?
   Are you expecting to please everyone?
   Are you overreacting and viewing things as absolutely critical and urgent? Do you feel you must always prevail in every situation?
   Work at adopting more moderate views; try to see the stress as something you can cope with rather than something that overpowers you.
   Try to temper your excess emotions. Put the situation in perspective. Do not labor on the negative aspects and the "what if"s.

4. Learn to moderate your physical reactions to stress.
   Slow, deep breathing will bring your heart rate and respiration back to normal.
   Relaxation techniques like Shavaasana can reduce muscle tension. Electronic biofeedback can help you gain voluntary control over such things as muscle tension, heart rate, and blood pressure.
   Medications, when prescribed by a physician, can help in the short term in moderating your physical reactions. However, they alone are not the answer. Learning to moderate these reactions on your own is a preferable long-term solution.

5. Build your physical reserves.
   Exercise for cardiovascular fitness three to four times a week (moderate, prolonger rythmic exercise is best, such as walking, swimming, cycling, or jogging).
   Eat well-balanced, nutritious meals.
   Maintain your ideal weight.
   Avoid nicotine, excessive caffeine, and other stimulants.
   Mix leisure with work. Take breaks and get away when you can.
   Get enough sleep. Be as consistent with your sleep schedule as possible.

6. Maintain your emotional reserves.
   Develop some mutually supportive friendships/relationships.
   Pursue realistic goals which are meaningful to you, rather than goals others have for you that you do not share.
   Expect some frustrations, failures, and sorrows.
   Always be kind and gentle with yourself -- be a friend to yourself.