3 Yoga Practices That Help Us Manage Stress
Yoga is a type of exercise that is widely practiced nowadays. Due to the problems of stress and anxiety that characterize our times, the different yoga practices are very effective in treating them.
Stress undermines our health. Its presence not only manifests itself in excessive hair loss and a lack of emotion management, but our body begins to somatize various problems. All of these, related to stress.
Migraines, cramps, abdominal pain … These problems can be solved if we are willing to manage stress with something as effective as yoga. Today we will discover 3 yoga practices that will help us achieve this goal.
1. Breathing exercises: one of the yoga practices
Among the yoga practices, there are breathing exercises. Although, at first, they seem to increase our anxiety and stress, the fact is that they can reduce it very effectively.
Many of the breathing exercises practiced in yoga should not only be done during a yoga session, but also at home. For example, before going to bed or in the morning as soon as you get up. Their benefits are enormous and we will realize them as soon as we put them into practice.
- Abdominal breathing : with one hand on the abdomen, we will try to fill it with air, hold on for a few seconds and exhale. We will do it slowly and without haste.
- Breathing 4-7-8: As we breathe deeply, we count to 4. Once this number is reached, we hold our breath and count to 7. We exhale slowly for a count of 8. Repeat again.
These are two very common simple exercises that take place in yoga, plus many others that include several variations. Practicing them will offer great physical and mental relaxation.
2. Meditation
Many yoga practices include meditation at the beginning or end of each class. This is great, as meditation allows us to stop and observe our thoughts. This way we can relax and gain greater emotional awareness.
When we meditate, we maintain a slow breathing, on which we focus every time a thought comes up to us and causes the mind to wander. The ideal is to be able to live in the present moment, controlling those thoughts of the past and the future that can cause us so much stress.
We can meditate sitting in the lotus position, but also lying down or sitting, but leaning against a wall. Ideally, we should adopt the position in which we are most comfortable.
3. Progressive relaxation of the muscles
The last of the yoga practices that we are going to expose refers to the progressive relaxation of the muscles. This is something that is usually put into practice before the final relaxation, in order to completely relax the body and free it from any possible stress.
Progressive muscle relaxation consists of focusing on each part of the body and traversing it from top to bottom, contracting and relaxing the muscles. For example, it is normal to start with the legs straight with an inspiration and then relax them with an exhalation.
We will do this with the rest of our body: buttocks, arms, hands, eyes and even with our mouth, sticking out our tongues. The relaxation that we will notice after doing this exercise will be such that we will feel renewed.
The yoga practices we have just mentioned are very effective in dealing with stress. As we see, even if yoga has various positions, these practices are important to relax not only physically, but also mentally.
Practicing these exercises when we get up or when we are tense, even in an active work break, will help us enjoy the present more and keep stress under control. Because, even if sometimes we can’t avoid it, we can limit or reduce it.
Stress does not help us and we must avoid it becoming a chronic state that is part of us, which follows us wherever we go. With patience and by including yoga as part of our routine, we can cope with stress in a way that doesn’t direct our lives.
