The Benefits of Yoga for Stress Relief

How Yoga Helps To Reduce Stress

For years, many people have reaped the benefits of yoga. In a national survey, more than 85% of yoga participants reported that that yoga helps to relieve stress. This is an art that combines mental and physical exercises that helps to strengthen the body and calm the mind. The beauty of yoga is that anyone can practise it and benefit from it whether you are young, old, a pro, or a novice. One of the major perks of yoga is that it is considered an excellent antidote to stress. Check out some of the benefits of yoga for stress relief below.

Helps Promote Relaxation Through Breathing Exercises

One of the ways yoga helps to ease stress is through breath work or pranayama. Yoga helps to increase the awareness of a person’s breath which acts as a relation tool for the body. Even though breathing is an involuntary act that helps keep you alive, yoga introduces the concept of regulating breath. Simply taking deep breaths can help you combat a stressful situation pretty fast. Deep breathing gives your brain, lungs, and heart more oxygen. This is a move that activates a relaxation response from the body. Most importantly, diligently engaging in breathing sessions can help reduce the amount of cortisol that your body produces. This is the natural chemical that is responsible for causing stress in the body.

Yoga Connects the Body, Spirit, and Mind

Yoga also helps to reduce stress by connecting the body, spirit, and mind which creates a sense of ease and harmony in a person’s life. The human body sends off vital signals when there is something off-balance. This mostly happens when you are under pressure. In such situations, it is essential to have the ability to respond, for general well-being. Yoga teaches people to be sensitive to each movement as well as keenly listen to their bodies. The practice also encourages you to exist in the present moment while living in a more connected, mindful, and conscious way. One of the key concepts of yoga is being non-judgemental to others and yourself which is powerful when it comes to getting rid of stress. This is because a lot of stress comes from people being too hard on themselves or getting frustrated by others.

Yoga Enhances Mood

Practicing yoga is also known to reduce stress levels by lifting a person’s mood. This is majorly done through inversion poses that help people view the world from a different angle. It allows you to get a fresh perspective on life’s challenges. The inversion poses are not difficult to achieve because they involve moves that see your head drop below the heart. This allows you to reap all the feel-good and mood-boosting benefits that inversions offer. Research also shows that yoga increases the levels of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid). This is a chemical in the brain that is responsible for regulating nerve activity. This happens because yoga stimulates some parts of the brain triggering changes in the endogenous antidepressant neurotransmitters like GABA. Medicines that increase GABA activity are often prescribed to ease anxiety and improve mood.

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