LIFESTYLE
YOGA for Stress Relief B Y C A R O L I N TAY L O R
CREATE A SPACE FOR CALM Find a space in your home that you can call your own. It doesn’t have to be a large space, just large enough for you to be comfortable. A space where your family knows not to disturb you. Use blankets, pillows, and candles to create a space where you can completely relax. Everything else, especially all technology, should be left behind. Once you’ve created your space, it’s important to spend time there at least once a day even for just five minutes.
Stress affects all of us differently and when we are stressed, we store tension in the body. That tension needs to be managed, or in time it will begin to manifest into a variety of other challenges within each of our bodies. So, how do you find calm in the chaos of daily life?
BALANCE WITH BREATH Whenever you begin to feel anxious, nervous, or upset, have you ever noticed the first thing people usually say is to take a deep breath. This is because when you take a deep breath, it sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax. If you can take a few minutes a day to simply focus on your breath, this will help to balance the body and begin to ease any stress that you might be feeling.
People associate yoga with the ability to bend your body into crazy shapes, but the physical practice is just one small part of yoga. Yoga is much more about the mind body connection and has the ability to take us from a place of being undone to a sense of wholeness. If you’ve never done yoga before or you’ve had regular practice, these tips can help you to find a pause in the busyness, so that you can begin to manage some of the stressors in your life.
A simple breathing exercise that you can do is Belly Breathing. • Sit or lie in a comfortable position. • Place your right hand on your belly and your left hand on your heart. • Take a deep breath in through your nose and feel your belly rise with your inhale.
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• Breathe out through your nose and feel your belly fall away from your hand with the exhale. • Your chest does not move in either the inhale or exhale. Do this 5 to 10 times, taking your time with each breath and never forcing it. When you are done, sit or lie in stillness and notice how you feel. MOVEMENT AS MEDITATION The actual practice of the yoga postures is like a moving meditation, especially if you are connecting each movement to your breath. This requires enough concentration that all other thoughts fall away so that it’s just you, your breath, and the movement. The goal is to find ease in each posture, letting go of all outside thoughts and allowing yourself to be present in each moment. Here are 5 simple movements to bring calm to your body: Child’s pose – Start in tabletop with your hands under your shoulders and knees under your hips. Then begin to push the hips back toward your heels and lower your forehead until it meets your mat or a block. Your arms reach forward or rest by your sides. Breathe in and out through your nose.
COURTESY CAROLIN TAYLOR
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o many of us live lives that are stressful. The stress of our jobs, relationships, families, finances and then, of course, the pressure that we put on ourselves about all these things. Most recently, we have all been thrown the curveball of a global pandemic, which has brought about many unexpected stressors as we have had to find a way to pivot gracefully and to create new normals for ourselves and our families.
