Yoga and Stress
The inability to cope with stressful situations can cause serious imbalances in the nervous system. Yoga, whose main sphere of work is just that: the nervous system, has some answers and techniques, which have well proven their worth over millennia.
One of the reasons for the ever-growing popularity of yoga may well be its ability to deal with rising amounts of stress in our daily lives. Unfortunately, almost everyone, ranging from children to the ageing, healthy or otherwise, are all under some kind of stress.
While stress per se isn’t negative, it’s our incapacity to deal with it that’s turning it into a much maligned word. These incapacities almost always originate in our hyperactive brains; and it isn’t peculiar only to the alpha type personality as earlier believed. While these personality types are more driven by ambition and desires, other personalities manifest different kinds of stress. Our society has somehow managed to even hitch children on to this bandwagon. We adults as parents and teachers, should give some thought to this strange phenomenon we have generated. Children who by their very nature are stress free, content to live in the moment, are slowly getting acquainted with societies’ impossible drives.
The inability to cope with stressful situations can cause serious imbalances in the nervous system. Yoga, whose main sphere of work is just that: the nervous system, has some answers and techniques, which have well proven their worth over millennia.
Yoga suggests we look deep within ourselves instead of only the situation causing the stress, which may not be in our hands to change. Changing our attitude towards life through swadhyaya or self-study, releasing muscle and tissue tension through asanas, strengthening the nervous system through awakened vital energy, with pranayama, tranquillising the mind through dharana or concentration, and redistributing the new healing energy to all organs and tissues through mudras and bandhas are some of the techniques yoga offers. The star of the healing system being yoga nidra or deep, yogic relaxation.
Asanas help, amongst other things, to release lactic acid accumulated in muscles and joint stiffness from stress, and optimise the functioning of the endocrine system, which in turn controls all other systems.
Pranayama helps to restore balance to an otherwise depleted energy system, often due to a faulty lifestyle as our internal biorhythms remain in sync with nature, while we no longer are. This duality creates great stress within the somatic and the autonomic nervous systems.
Swadhyaya or self-study helps to bring a change in attitude, i.e. through questioning ourselves about why we pursue activities, concepts and ideas that are harmful to ourselves. The vast majority of people do not want to harm themselves consciously. They do so mostly because of avidya or insufficient information.
Yoga nidra helps to tranquillise deep rooted anxiety and fears, usually imbibed from the environment combined with a faulty lifestyle. It’s been found that yoga nidra can bring deep sleep in people with faulty sleep patterns, inducing a high degree of alpha brain waves.
Yoga begins with self-awareness and questioning oneself. Slowly mental and emotional tensions from our day-to-day life, and over time even the more deep-rooted ones begin to subside. As concentration and relaxation increase, one’s life undergoes a sea of change.
