Are you wondering what the fuss has been about Yoga? Overtime, it has been thought that Yoga can help reduce stress and boost your immunity. I understand that you might be uncertain about how you could adopt the Yoga sequences in your everyday life. In this article, I would be taking you through the various yoga sequences and how you could adopt them. Let’s get started.
Avoiding Yoga classes doesn’t do you any good. As we grow older, our bodies begin to change. Our joints become stiffer, and we lose muscle mass. The slow and gentle movement practiced during Yoga keeps muscles limber, flexible, and strong. Body joints also remain strong and lubricated, says Caruana, a yoga specialist. Specific Yoga breathing techniques help calm anxiety, calm the nerves cool or heat the body, and help one attain a deeper state of meditation.
Yoga also helps with balance, to maintain peak physical performance, all its elements must be balanced, each performing its function adequately. As we grow, the interplay between our brain, eyes, muscle bones, and nervous system to maintain the good overall performance of the body. Yoga helps in lowering your blood pressure, heart rate, body mass index (B.M.I.), and your bad cholesterol; a calmer mind, better night sleep, uplifts moods and gives you a more relaxed state of being.
Why is yoga stress-relieving?
Ask a yoga enthusiast, and they may say“Yoga is the dance of every cell with the music of every breath that creates inner serenity and harmony”. Sounds amazing, right?
Yoga is the perfect mind-body practice that combines breathing, mindfulness and movement. There are 8 limbs of yoga developed by the ancient sage Patanjali, which delve deeper into how you can make peace with the fluctuations inside your head.
- Moral restrictions: non-harming and truth-telling
- Observances: clear, content, persistent, and self-reflection
- Physicalpostures
- Breathcontrol
- Sensewithdrawal
- Concentration
- Meditation
- Enlightenment
Essentially, yoga is far more than a workout, it allows you to slow down and observe your deeper self. By practicing the 8 limbs of yoga, you will realize that being affected by stress is harming yourself, and worrying about the future is not being content with the present.
To change how you handle stress, yoga first teaches you how to perceive it differently. Instead of being a victim of stressful thoughts, yoga encourages you to be an “observer”. Objectively observe the emotions and let them flow through your mind. There is no need to hold onto them, just like how outdated clothes will only clutter your cabinet.
Breath control, sense withdrawal, concentration and meditation are all techniques that help you get a better grip on stress. They not only help prevent the negative health consequences that we mentioned, but also boost your immunity by releasing the “wellness hormone”, endorphins.
Right after a yoga practice, you will feel an immediate sense of “bliss”, but in the long-term, consistent yoga practice can make you less vulnerable to stressful triggers. For example, one study showed that practicing daily yoga sequences for 12 weeks helped medical students remain calm during stressful exams, whereas those who did not practice yoga suffered from stress and anxiety.
Relaxing yoga sequences
Apart from improving your mental strength, physical movements can help with muscle relaxation and deep breathing. There are many different yoga sequences; some may focus on relaxing, whereas others may focus on building muscle strength.
Stress-relieving sequences typically consist of stretchy poses that open up your chest to allow deeper breaths. For example, a knee-down squat is when you sit on your knees and extend the upper body straight, with hands over the head for a long stretch into the air. You may also stretch the torso into the ground with a child’s pose, letting your forehead feel the earth below us.
If you have been to a yoga class before, Savasana, or sometimes called the “Corpse Pose”, is the ultimate relaxation pose at the end of a yoga sequence. It looks like simply lying down on the floor, but is a way to really drive home your long-held tensions and ease the mind.
When you are relaxed, the muscles and diaphragm stretch, improving your flexibility, fatigue and breathing depth. Don’t overlook these changes in your body; they can take away the stress you’ve accumulated for months or years, which in turn boost your immunity.
Immune-boosting foods go hand-in-hand
In addition to the wonderful yoga, there are many other healthy habits that could balance out stress in your life. These habits work synergistically, meaning that their combined effect is bigger than each of them alone.
The most important habit is diet, as what you put into your body largely determines what you are. If you eat predominantly processed foods that are high in calories but low in nutritional value, then your health will suffer no matter how much yoga sequences you do.
In contrast, if you incorporate nutrient-rich superfoods, such as turmeric, ginger or shilajit, they act as natural antidotes to the stress-induced damage. Shilajit has a special component in its composition. It is fulvic acid that helps your body absorb the maximal amount of micronutrients. Don’t be intimidated by the word “acid”, fulvic acid refers to organic acids naturally produced by microorganisms in the soil. It is a traditional medicine used by ancient Himalayans, which has been scientifically shown to improve gut health and immunity. Read more about shilajit benefits here – https://www.purehimalayanshilajit.com/benefits/.
Start enjoying the benefits now
There is no better time to start practicing yoga than right now. Although gyms may be closed, yoga is incredibly easy to pick up at home by following simple tutorials online. Let it relieve the tension that you’ve accumulated till now. But more importantly, let it teach you how not to be affected by stress and become victims of your own mind in the future. When combined with other lifestyle habits, you can expect to see a dramatic boost in your immunity and overall health!
