Our lives are so stretched at the moment. We are busier than our parents and grandparents were. While being busy is a good thing, as is advancing our careers, we never take the time to really concentrate on what we’re doing and why we’re doing what we’re doing. This causes us a lot of untold stress because we’re always thinking about the next thing and are conjuring up in our heads what this ‘next thing’ will be, what stresses it will bring and how we are going deal with them. But the utterly silly thing is that this thing hasn’t even happened! So, how would we know how to handle the situation when we don’t know what it’s about?
Yoga is a powerful part of stress management as one of its fundamental teachings that it gives to practitioners is to remain connected with the earth. It is a way to work on both physical and fitness health. And, in so doing, we ground ourselves and eliminate the worries that we may have about what may happen in the future. The practice tells us that we need to focus on the present as we know what it is and how to handle it. The future stays in the future. There is no point in stressing about the future because we don’t know what it’s going to hold.
There are a number of techniques that Yoga uses in order to help practitioners of this ancient art form management stress. Here are some of them.
Chanting
At start of every single Yoga class, the instructor will lead a chant that the class members are encouraged to participate in. The most common chant that is used is om. This has no meaning but is extremely powerful in focusing the mind onto the impending Yoga practice and helping the practitioner to usher the worries, stresses and anxieties of the day out of their mind so that they can focus fully on their Yoga practice.
There have been a number of scientific reasons put forward by very learned men and women about what physiological benefits chanting has. Some of these are that chanting:
- Causes the heartbeat, breathing and brain waves to slow down.
- Stimulates the acupuncture meridians in the mouth.
- Causes melatonin (which helps the body to regulate its rhythms) to be released.
Breathing
Yoga tells its students to practise Ujjayi breath. To make this happen, the person will breathe in through their nose and out through their mouths. However, the mouth will not be open during the exhalation (as it is in Yoga) and while you’re exhaling you’ll constrict the back of your throat. This will result in a slight ‘sighing’ sound.
Scientists and researchers have found that the action of sighing actually returns a person’s breath to its normal rhythms and patterns. When people are in a state of heightened emotional turmoil, then their breathing becomes shallow and not enough oxygen gets to their brain. As a result, they stop thinking clearly which gives rise to stress.
However, when they sigh – and take long, deep breaths – the flow of air and oxygen is restored to their brain. As such, it is much easier for them to start thinking clearly and become more focused. This is what Ujjayi breathe is all about.
Just because it’s something that is learned in Yoga doesn’t mean that Ujjayi breathing is reserved for this class. You can practise this type of breathing in every aspect of your life – all it needs is for you to be conscious about it, at first. After this, it will become natural to you.
Flexibility
Most of us spend the whole day hunched over our desks in front of our computers. This causes incredible tension in our neck and shoulders – among other places.
Yoga promotes flexibility so, with their poses, practising Yoga will help people release the tension in their muscles and – as such – reduce the amount of stress that they have in their lives.
Yoga is a phenomenal way of reducing stress. Even if you’re not flexible in the slightest we really recommend that you do take this practice up as it will benefit your life immensely.
Fitness
In addition to all the above wonderful benefits Yoga can too help us in our fitness needs and enable one to perform other exercises pertaining to fitness with ease.
