Ardent practitioners believe that performing yoga is the surest way to achieve good health in the long run.
Not only does it aid in physical well-being, it also lowers stress levels and improves mental health.
The General Benefits of Yoga
Yoga is essentially a discipline for physical, mental and spiritual flexibility, encompassing exercises that help improve the same. In terms of physical benefits, science believes that the austere breath techniques and varied postures are responsible for reducing stress levels too. Nowadays, chronic anxiety is as common as the flu, draining the body of its energy by encouraging a constant state of stress. While proper diet and rest can do only so much, proper exercise can get the body worked up enough to reduce stress levels automatically.
How Yoga Helps Reduce Stress by Breathing
Yoga activates the core systems and energises the body from within to ward off diseases. Studies have shown that people practicing yoga experience lesser chances of chronic heart ailments, diabetes and rampant weight gain. Yoga elicits the principle of accurate breathing as the element holding physical functions in place. These breathing exercises, called Pranayams, activate the inner core of the body, regulate hormonal activity and control metabolic rates to stabilize physical anomalies. Contrary to popular belief, yoga advocates the principle of breathing through the diaphragm instead of the conventional stomach technique.
Reducing Stress by Asana
The spiritual connection brought about yogic postures activates the inner strength and provides the confidence to face every day with ease. It releases tension from the muscles and promotes flexibility along with stress-reduction. Improved circulation results in better physicality and an improved emotional state. The whole-body exercises like Suryanamaskar (Sun-Salutation Posture) are equally effective in lowering stress. By encouraging deep and rhythmic breathing, these postures will keep you fit and ward off panic attacks to help you cope with difficult situations. Concentrating on the movements and the breathing pattern will not only reduce stress, but will also calm down erratic nervous activity.
Meditation and Its Benefits
For people experiencing severe stress, meditation is one of the most foolproof methods of reducing anxiety levels. Coupled with gradual rhythmic breathing, meditation helps one concentrate their thoughts on a particular subject. By focusing on a particular thought, one can shut out negative and stressful influences for good. Practised by sages since the early Vedic times, meditation has been a prolific help to many stress-afflicted people over the world.
With its deep-rooted belief in tapping the inner-power resource, yoga can bring you closer to knowing yourself and help you lead a stress-free life.
