Today, most lives move at a pace that can make you feel stressed and anxious. Whether it is work deadlines or family commitments, most of us wonder that 24 hours isn’t enough. However, there are many holistic avenues, like yoga and meditation, which can help you to pause and reset. When you practice authentic yoga, the mind, body and your spirit align on one plane. You can learn about the various tools to reset your rhythm, as a part of the 200 hour yoga teacher training in India.
Before we start to explore the tools that will alleviate stress and relax you, it makes sense to understand what it is.
What Is Stress And Why You Do Not Need It?
If you happen to enrol for a course at the best yoga school in Rishikesh, you are likely going to get complete answers to the same. So, going by all scientific text books, stress is your body’s in-built fight or flight response. When your body perceives danger, then your endocrine system floods the body’s blood stream with hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which increases vital parameters.
Your heart rate increases, your blood pressure goes up, digestion slows down, and your breathing becomes shallow. The result is insomnia, weak immunity, and emotional tiredness. Modern lifestyle makes this a daily occurrence. You can add to it, the digital onslaught in the form of tablets, mobiles, and laptops. These routines are leading to increased release of stress hormones. You can however, utilise yoga and meditation to alleviate this stress to a huge extent.
Today, we will explore a few yoga asana and meditation techniques to lower stress and feel relaxed.
Yoga Asana For Stress Relief And Relaxation
- Sukhasana – This is one of the easiest and most relaxing poses which you can practice. Any beginner and intermediate practitioner can practice this asana, also called Easy pose. When you spend adequate time in this pose, it can cause immediate relaxation. Some yogis also add the forward fold during exhalation, leading to a heightened relaxation response. When practiced on a regular basis, your back muscles gain strength and your body posture improves.
- Uttanasana – This is another extremely popular and easy pose in yoga. Also called Forward Fold, you can quieten your busy mind, by bringing the head to the level of the feet. This asana helps in promoting calmness and also balances the nervous system. You can use this pose to transition between different poses. Uttanasana gives your hamstrings, glutes, calves and hips a good stretch. Your stress and fatigue also goes down. While practicing this asana, imagine all the worries and tensions from your brain and flowing down through the feet into the ground. While coming out of this pose, do not hurry, if you have low blood pressure.
- Setu Bandha Sarvangasana – As a part of the 200 hour yoga teacher training in India, you will also learn this asana. It is a mild inversion and is perfect for beginners. When you are in this pose, your brain gets relaxed and so does the central nervous system. It promotes rejuvenation and cures depression as well. If you suffer from insomnia and fatigue, then this is the ideal pose.
- Marjaryasana – Cat pose is another name for this, and it helps to correct spinal posture and also relieves you from stress and anxiety. You focus more on stretching the lower back muscles along with the hips and lungs. When you are in this posture, your adrenal glands and kidneys also get a deep massage, which leads to relaxing hormones filling the system.
Meditation For Stress Relief
When you head to one of the best yoga school in Rishikesh, you also learn about various meditation techniques, which alleviate stress and tension. Numerous studies have shown that meditation has a positive impact on your psyche. It also helps to re-program your brain. So, let us find out how the best faculty at the best yoga schools guide you through meditation.
Guided Meditation – This is the first step in your meditation practice. A teacher guides you with commands and cues. This sort of meditation is particularly helpful for beginners, who are just starting out. Most such sessions are similar in nature. Your teacher will explain to you how your mind will react during meditation, then he or she will lead you through the process, and lastly, you will get suggestions on practicing it daily.
Unguided Meditation – This is another form of meditation, in which you meditate alone. It mostly involves sitting alone, and observing one’s own thoughts. You can also utilise the techniques which your teacher might have explained during the classes. If you are practicing this at home, it is best to create a cosy corner. You can use dim lights, incense sticks and scents to take your experience to another level, altogether.
Mantra Meditation – This is a focussed attention meditation, where you focus your mind on a mantra. It could be something as simple as Aum, Gayatri mantra or any Beej mantra. It is believed that mantras align with certain vibrations, which lead to positive change. It can also boost your inner confidence and mental strength. You can also enter into a deeper state of relaxation, through mantra meditation.
Take Away…
You will learn about several different yoga asanas and meditation techniques, as a part of the 200 hour yoga teacher training in India. You can learn all these in the residential yoga TTC and practice them at home freely. It is always important to learn standard and authentic forms, so as to get the right benefits. You must learn under the tutelage of the best faculty. Join a yoga teacher training school and get the best knowledge about asana practice and meditation. When you practice these in the standard format, lots of good things start to happen. Yoga Vidya Mandiram is one of the prominent schools of yoga, where the best yogic knowledge sharing happens. So, enrol for a course now!
