Yoga for Stress

Yoga has been a huge stress relief for me these past couple months. The breathing combined with exercise and the learning element have really been relaxing to me. I don't realize it during the practice, but afterward I feel like a different person. It really does alleviate the amount of stress I feel from day to day, and I can tell a difference in myself if I haven't made it to Yoga all week. I carry more tension in my body, and my perception is a lot more clouded.

I have participated in Hatha and Ashtanga Yoga so far, and both seem to alleviate stress. There are many different types of both Hatha and Ashtanga yoga, but the Hatha that I have experienced focused much attention on stretching and releasing tension from your body. We all know that when we are stressed we store tension in different areas of our body. I store my tension in my shoulders, which I didn't realize until I began Yoga. I have learned specific poses and yoga stretches that help get rid of the tension in my shoulders and elimiate stress in my day.

These stretches combined with breath and the learning process all help to create a more well rounded individual. My teachers have been stressing the importance of understanding what each pose is doing for your body, and how the pose combined with your breath work together to help your body. Initially, I found it easier to focus on one thing at a time, and now finally a couple months into Yoga I am finding myself understanding the comination of techniques and the importance of incorporating all into your practice. I am finally able to focus my attention to all things during a practice, and not just one at a time. I think in a sense the different elements have become one element in my mind, and so its easier now for me to understand and apply.

Each yoga session is spent with 5 to 10 minutes of relaxation and meditation. This time of the practice has been hard for me in the past because I found myself resorting back to my "monkey mind" as my teachers like to call it, or my mind racing with thoughts of what I have to do and stressing about how little time I have to do it in. This area of the practice has also become more clear to me. With my understanding of the different elements, I have also become a calmer individual at the end of the practice. I am appreciating the relaxation time more, and what it does for my stress level. Its a good time to just clear my mind and not think of anything. This wasn't possible when I first started, but it certainly is now.