With everything progressing at a fast pace around us, our life has become a juggling act between professional, emotional, personal, and social commitments. Managing so many things together leaves no room for personal attention and increases our stress levels.
A smart way to reduce your stress and enhance your health at the same time is to do yoga. Yoga provides relaxation to your physical as well as mental health.
It helps in controlling and reducing stress and resolves physical ailments, if any. The physical poses in yoga ease stress, encourage flexibility and lessen discomfort.
According to many researchers, yoga is an effective solution to deal with stress. A study in 2018* illustrated that individuals who did yoga regularly saw improvement in their health and experienced lower levels of stress, anxiety, and mood swings.
Role of Yoga in reducing stress:
1. Boosts immunity
2. Relaxes your mind
3. Strengthens muscles
4. Good for heart health
5. Enhances attention span
6. Induces release of happy hormones
7. Improves metabolism and respiration
Six Yoga Asanas for good health
Doing yoga can uplift your health drastically as it has multiple health benefits. However, certain asanas are pivotal in reducing stress.
Shashankasana – Hare Pose: Shashankasana is a simple pose that involves sitting in vajrasana, stretching your arms when inhaling, and bending forward while exhaling. This is a good asana for relaxing your mind and managing anger and anxiety. It also improves heart health, lowers cholesterol, helps in weight reduction, and reduces stiffness in the lower back.
Bhujangasana – Cobra Pose: This asana includes lying on your stomach, raising your head and chest while inhaling, and relaxing while exhaling. It helps in reducing stress and fatigue. It is good for the respiratory system. It also strengthens the shoulders, spine, and back.
Pawanmuktasana – Wind Relieving Pose: This pose includes lying down straight on your back while inhaling, raising the legs up and exhaling, pressing the thighs against the abdomen, and touching the knees with the chin. This asana may appear difficult initially, but as you practice it several times, you will get comfortable doing it. Pawanmuktasana as the
name suggests, is a yoga posture that helps release gas and reduces bloating. It boosts your immunity and helps control anxitey.
Naukasana – Boat Pose: This pose involves lying down straight on your back with legs together and hand beside the body and raising your upper torso, legs, and arms while inhaling, holding it for a few breaths, and then lowering the body as you relax. This asana helps in increasing the strength of your abdomen and reproductive organs. It also stimulates your mind with good energy.
Anuloma Viloma Pranayam: This asana means alternate nostril breathing. This type of yoga focuses more on breathing. It helps in relaxing your mind while you inhale and exhale. This asana is good for immunity and the respiratory system. You must do pranayama for at least 15 minutes a day. This will reduce the stress and will improve your focus.
Bhramari Pranayama: This type of yoga also includes focusing on breathing. It includes sitting in sukhasana, pressing the ears and eyes and inhaling through the nostrils and producing a humming sound while exhaling. This stimulates your thyroid gland and the other six senses. It is a good asana to reduce stress and anxiety. It helps in improving concentration and lowers the blood pressure and good for lungs too.
Yoga is a zero-investment therapy to treat anxiety and stress. Deep breathing techniques help in reducing the heart rate and lowering blood pressure. Yoga can treat many physical ailments gradually. The key to gain good health through yoga is persistence. You must do yoga for at least 15-30 minutes daily.
Doing yoga daily will help your mind cope up with daily anxiety and reduce the mental stress keeping you healthy.
*Data Source: https://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/health/yoga-for-working-women-to-beat-everyday-stress/3045812/
