Yoga for stress

 Stress - widespread disease of our time

Yoga for stress. Short-term stress can cause headaches, insomnia, digestive problems, muscle tension, and irritability. If stress becomes chronic, fatigue and naturally dissatisfaction will occur. Long-term stress becomes a health risk. Your body is constantly alarmed and ready to escape. This genetic remnant of our Stone Age ancestors is no longer appropriate for our time. An adrenaline rush used to be very useful if you wanted to kill a mammoth, but we cannot put a high electricity bill to flight. The released stress hormones stay in our body, build up and lead us to more stress. Allergies, diabetes, colds, cancer, depression, and burnout can be traced back to stress. High time to relax!

What is stress?

Stress is on everyone's lips, but what does this term actually mean. Stress (Latin: stringere = tense) is not only negative. When we are under stress, we can do very well. The scientist Hans Selve distinguished the positive stress (“Eustress”), which makes us lively, powerful and creative, from the negative “Distress”. This can make you sick in the long run. Stress is always a RESPONSE to a threat and is always accompanied by physical symptoms such as increased heart rate or sweating. Stress does not come from the outside but is our own reaction to external circumstances. This also means that we can control stress. We cannot stop stressful situations, but we can train ourselves to react differently. And that's where yoga for stress comes in.

Reduce your stress response with Yoga

Yoga is not gymnastics! This ancient way of life has its origins in India and includes physical exercises as well as breathing exercises, diet, withdrawal of the senses, meditation and life orientation. This spiritual practice aims at the enlightenment of the soul. The first step in living a peaceful life is to keep the body healthy and balance the mind. With physical asanas, proper diet, breathing exercises and concentration or meditation you can achieve that. Careful handling of our body lays the foundation for mental balance.

Yoga for stress - our tips:

Asanas - Yoga exercises against stress

Asanas are the physical exercises of yoga. Here we show some asanas to relieve stress and strengthen the nervous system.

 Pranayama (breathing exercises)

Nadi Shodhana, also called alternate breathing, is a pure all-rounder. This respiration stimulates the flow of prana (life energy) in the body and cleanses all energy channels. If you practice Nadi Shodhana regularly, you will experience true miracles in your body. Stress disappears, and harmony and calm will come. You find our instruction inclusive video for Nadi here.

Meditation

"Meditation" has become a buzzword in the West and it is printed on everything that should somehow relax us. However, scented candles, incents and CD's have nothing to do with true meditation. Meditation is an advanced yogic practice in which it is necessary to turn off the mind and silence all thoughts. The precursor is “Concentration”, which includes so-called "guided meditations". They provide a perfect introduction to the meditation practice. Our mind is not easy to silence. Therefore, it is easier to focus on something in the beginning, be it a fantasy journey, a candle flame or our breath. You can read more about meditation here.

Daily routine

Our modern life with artificial light, continuous sound, and unattainable goals are not particularly good for our health. We get out of our natural rhythm and thus give even more stress to our body. A regular daily routine with fixed mealtimes, enough rest periods and sufficient sleep is essential for our physical and mental health. Create a routine for yourself. It's even a start to only have half an hour in the morning to fully concentrate on yourself and your wishes.

Vegetarian diet

Yoga recommends a vegetarian diet (no meat, fish, egg). Meat contains not only traces of drugs but also stress hormones which are released during slaughter. These foreign stress hormones irritate the human body. Furthermore, in yoga one assumes that one also takes in the animal energy with the flesh, which then is spreads the body. Animals are still very much guided by instincts. The survival instinct is still dominant and comes into the body by eating meat. This causes even more stress.

Leave us a comment and tell us how you deal with stressful situations and what helps you the most to overcome your stress.

We wish you a relaxing day!