Why Does Yoga Relieve Stress and Tension?

Yoga includes a number of time proven stress relief methods together, this includes exercise, listening to calming music, breathing exercises, meditation practices, guided imagery (this one depends on the style of yoga you practice, for stress release stay away from power yoga and stick to gentle or basic yoga), and stretching.

In general yoga includes moving the body into different poses and stretches while concentrating on intentional and controlled breathing. This allowed the body to be relaxed and energized at the same time, a rare combination. This type of practice benefits the body by including oxygenating the blood, which travels through the body delivering more oxygen to all the cells of the body. This relaxes the muscles and quiets the mind. Yoga is partially intention as well, if you are preforming your movements with the intention of releasing stress and tension it will help.

You can get these benefits for a relatively small amount of effort. At fifteen or twenty-five minutes a day you can get some amazing results for stress relief. Yoga is a natural counterbalance to stress and will strengthen the way you deal with stress on the daily basis. It's not a quick fix and won't work immediately or the first time you try it, it's a process and the more time and effort you put into it the more results you will get.

Implementing yoga into your stress relief routine will help to slow down your heart rate, reduce blood pressure, calm feelings of anxiety, bring hormones into balance, enhance your sleep, and more. Yoga also helps clear the mind and unclutter the brain which often create stress and sometimes even tension headaches.

Any yoga pose for any length of time will help with stress release but focusing on the neck, chest and shoulders will get you the most amount of benefit in a shorter amount of time. Even simple movements such as neck circles, shoulder rolls, chest expansion, spinal twists, will aid in the release of stress and tension. In general men tend to hold their stress and tension in their shoulders, and women tend to hold theirs in their lower backs.

Training the body and mind can be accomplished with yoga, training ourselves to respond to the request for relaxation and stress release. Creating a new and healthy habit of relaxation that can be very helpful when we are in the middle of stressful situations as well as after.

This article by Gaylene Thoeny, a 500hr Registered Yoga Teacher, Personal Trainer, Lifestyle Manager, Yogi and mom. Go to groundinglifestyle.ca groundinglifestyle.ca for more information. Gaylene specializes in creating a grounded life on and off the mat. You can also follow her at gaylenet on Twitter and on Facebook.