Stressed? Can Yoga help?
Stressed? Can yoga help?
People often practice yoga to reduce stress and aid relaxation. Scientists are now learning the mechanisms behind how yoga lowers stress.
Persistent surges of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, may damage blood vessels and elevate blood pressure. However, research has shown that people who practice yoga regularly have low cortisol levels. Studies have also found that practicing yoga for at least 3 months may lower cortisol and perceived stress and reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines that cause inflammation. -Medical News Today
Have you heard about the benefits of yoga? I’m sure you have.
In the next couple weeks, our themes will be centered around the different benefits of yoga. However, I also want us to look at what hinders us from practicing. It is often not enough to just know the benefits. For example, I know that eating green vegetables every day has many benefits for my health, however, there are many days I choose not to eat them.
A Benefit of Yoga: Stress Reduction
The first benefit we’ll look at is our yoga practice’s effect on reducing stress. We all can certainly appreciate wanting to reduce the stressors in our lives. I would challenge that thinking a bit. There are many times the stressors we have, we can’t change. But, what we can change is our reaction. And our yoga practice is perfect at helping with this. If you’re feeling like I am, the month of May is busy and there’s lots to be done. Maybe you can’t take any of it off your plate, but perhaps you can find 5 minutes each day to take your yoga off the mat and center yourself so that you’re better equipped to handle the day ahead.
In these busy phases, if you can’t join me for live class, there’s always the option to jump into the membership where you can access classes of different lengths or a quick breath practice or meditation to get you through the day.
I’m sending you all patience and grace with yourself and many deep breaths as you navigate your days.
