Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Yoga for stress



Do you feel caught by the stress crab? Feeling overwhelmed? Looking out for help Then you have found out a true friendly solution from a friend who has been helping the stressed out people to come and face the world with a new and fresh attitude.

Yoga is the age old tradition of combining proper concentration with breathing techniques that will focus your mind and connect your body to your soul. If you are feeling stressed out and need help maintaining control of your life, yoga can help. Yoga will work for you and unlock the secrets of this ancient spiritual practice. It has been 4,000 years of Hindu participants practicing it for a healthy life style and peaceful mind. If you feel like your life is spinning out of control, yoga is the cure for you

Yoga has been around for centuries and its calming effects have been well documented. Yoga combines several stress relieving techniques – breathing, meditation, exercise – to give you the stress relief that you need. It is one of the most effective stress reduction tips that one might come across. Relieving stress in your life is not as difficult as it may first seem

Stress is an inescapable reality that claims a countless number of victims every year. Stress, from just trying to keep pace with the hustle and bustle of everyday life, is killing us. Stress is the culprit in many health related problems It has been linked with heart disease respiratory ailments, anxiety, and nervousness. Stress makes your body more susceptible to a variety of infections. It lowers the body’s natural immunity and makes the mind more prone to depression and negative thoughts.

Yoga is an excellent stress relief technique. It involves a series of both moving and stationary poses, combined with deep breathing. The physical and mental benefits of yoga provide a natural counter-balance to stress, and strengthens the relaxation response in your daily life. Yoga is one of the best stress-busters.

Yoga can prove to be a god send in our fast paced and stressful lives. This ancient form of exercises began in ancient India many thousands of years ago. Once considered a lost art, it has slowly regained its prominence and popularity and has now spread far and wide from the lands of its origin. In fact yoga is even more relevant in our modern lives than ever before.

In addition to physical exercises (Asanas) yoga also lays a lot of emphasis on deep breathing (Pranayama) and meditation techniques. These techniques, which are an integral part of yoga, have a direct effect on the parts of the body that fight stress.

YOUTH AND STRESS

Yoga practice has realistic solutions for stressed-out teenagers. Young people need to take time out for non-competitive and wholesome activities, such as Yoga.
Yoga is considered to be an extremely effective method for relieving stress
Even five minutes spent doing yoga will give you stress relief. In these tough times it’s only natural to feel stress. However constant unrelieved stress will lead to health problems. It’s vital that you spend some time each day getting rid of the stress hormones in your system and discovering relaxation. Yoga has been practiced for many years and found to be very effective in stress reduction as well as keeping the body fit. This is a wonderful and fulfilling way to build a foundation of inner peace when experiencing difficult times and at the same time transform the body to have more range of movement and strength.


Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, and yoga can help you activate this relaxation response. When practiced regularly, these activities lead to a reduction in your everyday stress level and boost your feelings of peace and calm
Yoga Asanas for Stress Relief

Shava Asana (Corpse pose)


Shava Asana (Corpse pose) allow you to mentally reach out to every part of your body and help it to relax. Those who have tried this technique for the first time have been truly amazed at the sense of deep relaxation that this magical Asana induces. The best part is that it doesn’t involve any complicated procedures. All the Shava Asana requires you to do is to lie on your back with your eyes closed and then slowly focus your mind on different parts of your body in order to make them relax.

Balasan



This asana requires you to lie down on your abdomen spreading your legs and hands. Stay in this position for few seconds so that the belly, back and chest are affected. Keep your left hand under your head on the ground. Turning your face to right side keep palm of right hand over the palm of left hand already under the head. Bend your right leg at knee and place its sole close to the thigh of left spreaded leg. Keep the right knee touching the ground. You can keep your eyes closed. Breathe normally. Remain in the asana till you feel comfortable. Then gradually get up and sit down.

Sukhasan



This asana is performed by sitting with the sit-bones on the front edge of a firm cushion or folded blanket. The hips should be elevated 4-6 inches. Cross the legs inwards starting with the left leg in first and then the right leg. Allow the knees to separate, crossing the shins and sliding the feet under the opposite knee. Maintain a comfortable gap between the feet and pelvis.
Secondly, rest the palms on the knees. Begin to find balance over the pelvis. Come lightly forward onto the sit-bones preventing the body from leaning back and rounding the spine. Keep the bottom front ribs slightly pulled down as the sit-bones begin to reach down into the cushion. Discover the feeling of neither arching forward or leaning back, but simply balancing the spine over the pelvis.
Now, you can feel the thighs roll outwards and the knees move down towards the ground. Then, inhale and lift up through the spine through the top of the head. Exhale and relax the shoulders. Broaden the chest and collar bones without becoming hard between the shoulder blades.
Relax and close the eyes. Very slightly, you can lower the chin without excessively tilting the head forward. Relax the facial muscles, the jaw, and the nostrils. Allow the tip of the tongue to touch the roof of the mouth at the back of the front teeth.
Moreover, breath slowly through the nostrils for as long as it is comfortable watching the rhythm of the breath. Maintain the sensation of grounding through the sitbones and hips as the spine lifts lighter. To exit, straighten the legs forward and give them a shake. Repeat crossing the legs the opposite way.


Sun Salutation and Halasana are also effective for stress relief. Plough / Plow (Halasana) is very beneficial extreme forward bending exercise having many stress release benefits. Yoga meditation techniques combined with Pranayama breathing also allow you to transcend physical barriers and become one with the cosmic energy of the universe. These special techniques not only relax your body, they ensure that you breathe fully, and help your mind to focus and concentrate. Thus, yoga is not only the world's oldest form of exercise, but also the world's oldest healing technique.

No comments:

Post a Comment