Our soul is a delicate plant. It reacts to even the smallest triggers in our everyday lives and influences our subconscious and conscious mind. If the necessary relaxation is lacking and the body is under stress, we quickly develop unpleasant symptoms. We begin to feel unwell, our thoughts wander, our muscles tense, often unnoticed, we grind our teeth, and, in the worst case, find ourselves in depression or burnout. Chronic stress wears us down and harms us mentally and physically.
Stress manifests itself, for example, with the following symptoms:
• inner restlessness
• Sleep disorders
• increased heart rate
• Tension, especially in the neck, shoulders and back area
• Headache
• Difficulty concentrating
• circular thoughts
• Ringing in the ears / tinnitus
• rapid irritability
• In the worst case, burnout
If you recognize one or more of these symptoms, it's high time to take action! Yoga and meditation can help you develop mindfulness and find your way back to a relaxed life.
Anti-Stress Yoga: Yoga and meditation against stress
Do you suffer from stress in your daily life, miss relaxation, and want to do something good for yourself? Yoga and meditation teach you mindfulness in dealing with yourself, sharpen your awareness, and give the storm in your head a break. With regular practice, you'll internalize stress-relieving asanas, learn to let go through calm breathing, relax, and reduce stress.
The first step: Identify stress factors
We often feel it's easier to simply ignore or suppress these factors. This can have a negative impact on our mental and physical health. However, actively confronting our stressors can be half the battle toward returning to a relaxed state. Creating awareness signals a willingness to work on ourselves and opens us up to solutions on both a conscious and subconscious level.
It is therefore important to first become aware of your own stress factors:
• Actively ask yourself: What is stressing me right now?
• Why do I feel stressed?
• How can I alleviate stress factors?
• What helps me to combat stress (e.g. sport or nature)?
• How can I incorporate my “feel-good things” to combat stress into my everyday life?
Many stress factors concern us subconsciously
Sometimes the stressors lie deeper and aren't so easy to detect, such as a stressful period at home or at work. But even unconscious stress has a profound impact on your body. Yoga, with its effective and usually easy-to-learn exercises, can help you calm your racing thoughts and become aware of your stressors.
How does anti-stress yoga work?
Now it gets a little scientific: Regular yoga practice causes the brain to release GABA. GABA is the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid and helps reduce the excitability of nerve cells in the brain and lower stress hormones. This relaxes muscles and reduces feelings of anxiety. Yoga also stimulates the autonomic nervous system, allowing you to relax internally.
By regularly practicing asanas, you indirectly influence your hormone levels and restore your inner balance. Your breathing calms, and tension and blockages in the body dissolve.
Use the power of breathing against stress: alternate breathing exercise
Treat your body and soul to a relaxing break with a simple exercise. The pose has a deeply calming effect, is easy to learn, and can be performed almost anywhere. This yoga pose will help you quickly find relaxation while studying, at the office, or even in the bathtub!
This is how the anti-stress yoga exercise alternate breathing works:
The teachings of yoga are based on the principle that you can only concentrate on one thing at a time. If you focus intensely on your breath, you can't simultaneously entertain stressful thoughts. Your mind will relax almost automatically.
- Sit comfortably and upright
- Place your left hand loosely on your leg
- Form your hand into Vishnu Mudra. First, make a fist, then spread your thumb, ring finger, and little finger.
- Exhale completely and close your eyes
- Breathe in through the left nostril, closing the right one with your thumb.
- Now close your left nostril with your ring finger and little finger and breathe in and out slowly and consciously through your right nostril.
- So you breathe in and out alternately through the left and right nostril.
Practice this anti-stress yoga exercise for at least 2 minutes to experience a lasting, calming effect. You'll quickly feel the relaxation that comes with this simple exercise!
Here you can find out more about Pranayama, the relaxing yoga breathing exercises.
Find your personal yoga style
Yoga is very diverse and continues to evolve. Slow-paced yoga styles that focus on calming exercises are recommended for stress relief. Power yoga, for example, is very sweaty and gets the body working at full throttle.Hatha yoga and Yin yoga, among others, are therefore suitable for relaxation.
If you manage to integrate yoga into your daily routine and practice it regularly, you will surely feel the rapid, relaxing effect on your mind, body, and soul!
