Monday, February 13, 2012

RELIEVE STRESS IN FIVE MINUTES WITH YOGA

KILL STRESS AND ANXIETY
WITH EASY YOGA TECHNIQUES
www.mensfitness.com - Deadlines, meetings, bills - no matter how big or small, life is replete with stressors. Countless studies reveal a correlation between high stress levels and poor health, particularly strain on the heart. Many people turn to yoga to decompress and achieve mental clarity, but are all the awkward motions and painful poses really making a difference? Yoga expert, instructor and author Tara Stiles of Strala Yoga Studio spoke to us about how and why yoga relieves stress, and shared with us tips to achieving a healthy body and mind through yoga. Yoga used to have a reputation as an alternative, new age way of getting healthy, but it’s grown into a legit, doctor-approved method for treating emotional disorders. “I get a lot of people who come in with doctor’s notes for anxiety because they don’t want to go on mood-enhancing drugs,” says Stiles. “It isn’t mysterious anymore -it will help your body.”

Confirming this is a new study conducted by the researchers at Boston University School of Medicine, who found that yoga practitioners increased GABA levels in the brain by 27% after a session. GABA, or Gamma-aminobutyric acid, is a main neurotransmitter in the brain responsible for regulating other neurotransmitters that reduces stress and anxiety.  Stiles explains, “[Yoga] is resetting everything that keeps you happy and healthy. It’s calming.”  
Stiles theorizes, “Yoga makes more room in your body and mind. You don’t get wrapped up in the roller coaster of thought patterns or stuff that is disruptive to yourself.” 
Regarding strategies to use when in immediate need, she finds alternate nostril breathing to be effective. “You close off one nostril and breathe in from the other side, hold for a four-second count, exhale and repeat the other side,” she explains. “Do that for three-to-five minutes.”

According to Yoga expert Tara Stiles, “The more regular the practice, the more benefits happen, but studies show that even five minutes of meditation - the deep breathing you are practicing - stimulates the vagus nerve,” which acts as a sensory highway between the physical body and the central nervous system.  Through Yoga we relieve stress, anxiety, anguish and fear. If your body and mind are healthy and you are feeling at peace with yourself, you can emanate serenity, love and health to those around you.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 
Today we live in a world of constant stress, always facing the outside, which prevents us from knowing our essence or inner nature. This makes us feel frustrated, anxious, tense and thus, ill.  When a problem arises we take drugs to hush those signals that the body emits and then we do not realize that just by stretching out, relaxing, a conscious living, refusing to negative influences, breathing in a slow and controlled manner, having a natural and healthy diet, we can restore our health and prevent diseases. Well, yoga is to implement a series of techniques that help us to get that full health. These Hatha Yoga techniques include relaxation exercises, body positions or asanas, pranayama or breath control exercises and techniques of internalization and concentration that lead us to a fullness.


No comments: