7 Reasons Why Yoga Can Reverse Chronic Stress
Whether you are dealing with chronic stress or struggling from anxiety, yoga can be used as a powerful activity to calm you down, as multiple studies have already proven.
One study stated that twelve sessions of Iyengar yoga alone can already reverse mood swings and anxiety. Another study found that ten sessions of hatha yoga can improve a person’s quality of life. It is also strongly suggested that the benefits are more pronounced when you continually practice yoga.
There are multiple factors that seem to contribute to yoga’s effectiveness in reversing stress and anxiety. Below are some of the important factors that can convince you to start incorporating this practice to your life.
Eases Tension And Promotes Relaxation
In times of stress, your body tends to tighten up and start to hold the tension in your neck, shoulders, back and elsewhere. These muscular tensions can perpetuate uneasiness and feed your mind with negative thoughts.
The relaxation benefits you get from yoga alleviates some of your body’s physical tension. This helps release the restlessness and anxiety you hold.
Regulates Breathing
Even though the act of breathing is completely automatic, certain disruptions in your nervous system can still directly affect your breathing patterns. When you feel stressed and anxious, you will tend to take shallow and rapid breaths. Sometimes, you also unconsciously hold your breath.
Yoga teaches you how to continuously breathe with awareness while holding challenging poses. With continued practice, you can master slow and deep breathing exercises to help soothe your nervous system even if your mind is cluttered with worries and stress.
Improves Physical Fitness
Yoga is also a form of physical exercise. And improving you physical condition has long been established as the best prevention for many diseases. This means staying active is vital in reducing stress and maintaining mental fitness.
Studies show that exercises reduces fatigue, improves concentration and enhances cognitive functions. Overall, an exercise such as yoga can especially be helpful when stress has depleted your energy or disrupted your ability to concentrate.
Teaches Body Awareness
In addition to the direct effect of yoga for reducing stress, it also teaches you to be aware of your body. As you move further along with your yoga skills, you will get to know every muscle in your body and learn how to release tension by stretching and holding certain poses.
Breaks Worry Cycles
Every person has experienced chronic worries and getting mentally stuck before. As you step on the yoga mat, you get the opportunity to take a breather from mental stress and practice letting go of your problems. This helps break the worry cycles that all stressed people go through.
Demonstrates Self Compassion
Stress influences you to stop all your good habits such as getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet and taking regular exercises. When you take the time to do something such as yoga, you treat your body as an important asset worth taking care of. After all, it is nice to take care of yourself and give more value to your physical and mental health.
Fosters Self-Acceptance
Stress usually comes from the inability to accomplish certain objectives. As challenging as it is, yoga teaches you how to accept your limits and abilities. As it fosters self acceptance, it allows you to make room for personal growth.
Some people assume that the benefits of yoga is not for them. On top of the stress and anxiety that you are dealing with, it is perfectly normal to feel uneasy trying something new. Each person is different, but the lessons you learn from the constant practice of yoga may positively affect you when you are least expecting it, so it is worth giving a try.
