Yoga for Stress Relief

Yoga For Stress Relief

Yoga has always been a means of relieving stress. Yoga practice calms the soul and relaxes the mind. It's a wonder what simple exercises and modified breathing can do for someone who is under stress. Stress is anxiety caused by things in our daily life that cause people to feel uncomfortable and uneasy. Yoga is not a cure for stress, but a treatment which can lessen the overwhelming feeling one gets from stress. There are a few ways people use yoga to relieve stress.

Nadi Shodhana, or the sweet breath, is simple form of alternate nostril breathing suitable for beginning and advanced students. Nadi means channel and refers to the energy pathways through which prana flows. Shodhana means cleansing Ð'-Nadi Shodhana means channel cleaning. Benefits Calms the mind, soothes anxiety and stress, balances left and right hemispheres, promotes clear thinking. (Yogasite, 1) You inhale through the left nostril and exhale out the right, inhale through the right nostril and exhale through the left. You can do this at anytime of the day and anywhere. You can do this during yoga exercises, before an exercise or even when you aren't doing yoga and you feel stressed out. Modified breathing techniques are a great way of relieving stress.

Yoga also reduces stress by diet, spiritual reorientation in life, and exercise. Yogic diets advise low fat high fiber and low spicy foods. Low fat diet decreases chances of heart disease. High fiber diets help in decreasing carbohydrate absorption through the intestine which helps in lowering chances of developing diabetes mellitus and better sugar control in diabetics. High spicy diets interfere in the person's ability to relax therefore yoga advises low spicy diets. For Spiritual reorientation in life, a good yoga practitioner knows that yoga is not about stretch exercises and breath control alone but it is way of life. Yoga teaches man to be compassionate to his fellow beings. A yogi always should be mindful of the welfare of others. Modern studies have shown that compassionate feelings are conducive to better health. Mindless selfishness results in development of emotions like anger, frustrations, and feeling of loss that are not conducive to health. Yoga exercises have already proven that in a stressed individual the general muscle tone will be increased. Yoga has elaborate stretch