I feel stressed and anxious. How can yoga help?
By Dianne Fish, LPC Intern
Yoga is one important technique to reduce your stress and anxiety. It helps by triggering your body's natural relaxation response to decrease anxious symptoms and increase a sense of well being.
I feel stressed and anxious. How can yoga help?
You can take charge of
reducing your anxiety and stress by making a range of changes to your
lifestyle including practice of certain exercises, breathing, and body
movements; getting adequate rest; increasing your awareness of and making changes to
negative thought patterns; and improving what you eat. According to the
University of Maryland Medical Center, rythmic aerobic and yoga
exercise programs lasting for more than 15 weeks were found to
reduce anxiety. In contrast, studies of strength or resistance training show these
exercises do not seem to help anxiety.
reducing your anxiety and stress by making a range of changes to your
lifestyle including practice of certain exercises, breathing, and body
movements; getting adequate rest; increasing your awareness of and making changes to
negative thought patterns; and improving what you eat. According to the
University of Maryland Medical Center, rythmic aerobic and yoga
exercise programs lasting for more than 15 weeks were found to
reduce anxiety. In contrast, studies of strength or resistance training show these
exercises do not seem to help anxiety.
The relaxation response is
considered your body's physiological counterpart to the flight or fight
response associated with hyper-arousal of many body functions and
feelings of anxiousness. The relaxation response is a natural capacity
of your body to self calm and has physical indicators such as slowing
metabolism and heart rate, decreasing respiratory rate, and decreasing
blood pressure. You generally experience this relaxation response as a
calm sense of well being.
considered your body's physiological counterpart to the flight or fight
response associated with hyper-arousal of many body functions and
feelings of anxiousness. The relaxation response is a natural capacity
of your body to self calm and has physical indicators such as slowing
metabolism and heart rate, decreasing respiratory rate, and decreasing
blood pressure. You generally experience this relaxation response as a
calm sense of well being.
Yoga and Your Body's Natural Ability to Relax
You can trigger your own relaxation response by
regularly practicing mind / body techniques such as meditation, qigong,
yoga, and certain forms of contemplative prayer. Yogic breathing
techniques can increase a state of calm alertness by increasing the
parasympathetic drive and decreasing the release of stress related hormones such as
cortisol which can be harmful to your body in large amounts over time.
regularly practicing mind / body techniques such as meditation, qigong,
yoga, and certain forms of contemplative prayer. Yogic breathing
techniques can increase a state of calm alertness by increasing the
parasympathetic drive and decreasing the release of stress related hormones such as
cortisol which can be harmful to your body in large amounts over time.
I have found kundalini yoga (yoga of awareness)
to be especially helpful in reducing anxiety and bringing about a sense of
centered well being. Kundalini yoga uses ancient techniques called
kriyas that include body movements, breath, hand positions, and sound.
Kundalini yoga includes meditations that are typically more active than
mindfulness or concentration forms of meditation which helps those of
us who have a difficult time sitting still. This form of yoga uses powerful breathing techniques which help you to shift and balance your mood fairly rapidly.
to be especially helpful in reducing anxiety and bringing about a sense of
centered well being. Kundalini yoga uses ancient techniques called
kriyas that include body movements, breath, hand positions, and sound.
Kundalini yoga includes meditations that are typically more active than
mindfulness or concentration forms of meditation which helps those of
us who have a difficult time sitting still. This form of yoga uses powerful breathing techniques which help you to shift and balance your mood fairly rapidly.
If you would like to experience how kundalini yoga can help you balance your moods and learn other approaches to improve your skills in working with emotions, a colleague Jodi Filleman and I are offering a new Women's Emotional Balance Group starting up this fall.
I also periodically offer 2 hour workshops to introduce some of these techniques and discuss lifestyle changes on
topics such as: 'reducing your anxiety', 'transforming the dragon of
anger', and 'blissful sleep'.
topics such as: 'reducing your anxiety', 'transforming the dragon of
anger', and 'blissful sleep'.
Call or email Dianne Fish for more information.
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