Yoga and Health Tips for Stress Relief

When we live in long-term stress, our bodies can get stuck in an unhealthy survival mode. This causes our digestion to deteriorate, sleep quality goes down, weight gain, high blood pressure, decision thinking declines, and possible heart issues to increase.

There are many causes of stress from work, relationships, finances, and health. Today’s recent stressful times of Covid-19 have made it even harder for many people to find ways to cope with these stresses. Fortunately, there is yoga to bring us back to balance. Yoga is very beneficial for the body and mind, and you can do it anywhere and anytime. You can reset your nervous system with yoga and heal your emotions.

Yoga is so much more than just stretching and improving your flexibility. Developing a yoga practice helps prevent and reduce stress, and promotes positive self-improvement. When you reduce the stress in your life, you may find your consumption of alcohol, drugs, or overeating may decrease or stop altogether. This leads to a healthier body and mind, which reduces stress.

Kevala Health's live-stream yoga online classes are one step closer to stress relief. These live-stream yoga classes are perfect for stress relief as they combine simple breathing exercises, mantras, meditations, and gentle yoga postures to open the body and mind. Beginners and seniors can do these safe and affordable online yoga classes. Continue reading to learn more stress-relieving benefits of yoga and how it can enhance your health.

How Does Yoga Reduce Stress and Anxiety?

1. Yoga Postures: Yoga postures can help you release physical tightness in the muscles and joints by gently moving or holding postures longer and improving your circulation. Focus more on the floor-based yoga poses and gentle Yin or a restorative yoga practice using support if you are tired or hot. Cat and Cow yoga pose flow is one of the best beginner yoga movements to help reduce stress in the back, hips, and mental body. A child's pose and legs-up-the-wall posture are other ways to promote calmness and relaxation. Our Restorative gentle yoga class is perfect for de-stressing. Try Kevala Health's neck and shoulder short video to help with stress relief.

2. Breathing: You learn many breathing exercises in yoga, which you can do anywhere to help promote calmness and relaxation. Try closing your eyes, count your breath slowly for 4 counts on the inhale, pause, then exhale slowly for 4 counts, pause, then repeat this cycle for a minute or longer. Simple breathing techniques are the quickest and easiest way to relieve stress. In Kevala Health live stream yoga classes we encourage students to make breathing the priority. Other breathing techniques you can use are; Alternate nostril breathing, Sitali breath, and Ujjayi breathing. Your breathing has powerful effects on the physical, mental, and emotional body.

3. Meditation: Yoga is a moving meditation as you learn to connect the breath with the body and move with the breath. In Kevala Health live stream yoga classes we practice moving meditation and finish our online classes with a 10-minute meditation using variations of yoga Nidra (body scan) to Chakra meditations and mantras. You can practice meditation on its own or include it in your yoga practice. Meditation positions can be seated, lying down, standing, or even walking. Remember anyone can meditate and you can start with a few minutes a day. Learn more about ways you can meditate.

4. Mindfulness: Kevala online yoga classes promote mindfulness in every posture and movement. Learning to be more awake and aware of what is right for your body and mind, helps you improve your decision-making, opens the mind more, and improves focus. It will help you let go of negative experiences and emotions. You will learn to recognize the signs of your body’s response to stress, such as difficulty sleeping and low energy. More information can be found here on mindfulness.

5. Willpower strengthens: Yoga can help you strengthen your willpower and confidence, which helps you focus on making healthier choices in life. Stronger willpower helps you work towards your goals and not give in to the unhealthy habits you may be struggling with. Build inner strength to walk away from stressful situations or people.

6. Mind-Body connection: Yoga connects mind, body, and breath, giving you a complete workout for the mind and body. Our body is made up of many layers, not just physical, and every layer from mental to emotional affects other layers of the body. Emotional stress causes tightness in the physical body and mental stress can cause resistance in our physical body.

Follow these important health tips to help you get the most from yoga and help with stress relief.

1. Allow more free time. Make time for more self-care and yoga helps you reduce stress.

2. Practice self-acceptance. Learning to accept yourself helps you reduce negative body image issues.

3. Daily Gratitude: Every day reflect on three things you are grateful for in life. You can do this either in the morning, evening, or both. This takes your focus away from the negative in your life.

4. Bed early: Going to bed early does wonders for your health and stress levels. Avoid using your phone or computer an hour before bedtime. If you can’t sleep, then try some easy breathing exercises or meditation.

5. Make health your priority. Get into the daily habit of walking for 30 minutes a day. Make healthy eating choices. Be aware of what is causing your stress and work towards a plan to reduce this.

6. Get organized: Being disorganized can cause stress and anxiety. You waste time looking for things. You can organize your house cupboards, work desk, car, and exercise schedule. Make to-do lists of your daily or weekly plans. Practice good time management.

7. Stop rushing: When you rush your body overworks and this causes tightness and stress in your organs. You also increase your chance of injuries. Slow down and “smell the roses” more.

8. Get support: Know you are not alone, so keep in touch with family, friends, or a counselor for help. Work on different coping strategies, not just one.

Yoga has never let me down when I’ve had life stresses, and I always feel calmer and relaxed after I have finished my practice. Remember you can start with one or two yoga postures and build up your practice daily. Make health your priority and find natural ways of stress relief like yoga, meditation, and mindfulness.

Start making positive changes and reduce your stress with Kevala Health's live-stream yoga classes with our 14-day free trial.