Yoga and Stress by Alison King Tigges

I have been at the yoga game for 22 years.  And while I love the physical benefits I have gotten from the practice, the mental benefits are what truly keep me at it, all these years later.  There are so many mental benefits! One of the biggest being, yoga helps manage stress! 

STRESS is how we respond to a threat, challenge or demand.  It can manifest physically, mentally and/or emotionally.  The funny thing about stress is we will never eliminate all stress.  And honestly, some stress is good!  It gets us to take action sometimes or to get things done.  But chronic stress is literally killing us.  And sometimes we do not even realize how chronically stressed we are, until things start to really crumble. 

Unfortunately, if left unchecked, chronic stress can lead to many health issues.  On a mental health level, it might show up as anxiety, irritability, anger. Impatience, feeling “frozen”, or just general unhappiness. On a physical level, we might see it show up as tension, tightness, pain, weakness, and discomfort in our bodies. Chronic stress can increase hormones like cortisol and that affects our ability to tap into the parasympathetic nervous system.  Stress can mess with our sleep, day-to-day interactions and activities, and overall quality of life.  Data shows the more stressed we are, the more likely we are to struggle with issues like high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, weight gain/loss, diabetes, muscle tension, digestive issues, etc. 

So what do we do about it?  More importantly, how does YOGA help? (spoiler: it definitely helps!)

Yoga helps stress by:

1.     Movement helps stress! If tension is a symptom of stress, then doing yoga poses is a solution!  Plus, Its actually easier to sit still (to relax, meditate or breathe deeply) if the body is comfortable and not stiff so movement for many reasons.  Everything is connected, so often when the body feels good, the mind is more likely to follow.

2.     Meditation is (usually, hopefully) part of a regular yoga practice.  Meditation is the practice where we try to focus the mind, in an attempt to quiet it.  More meditation usually = a tool to combat stress.

3.     Yoga is also about breath work!  Specific breathing techniques are available to us to help calm the nervous system and deal with stress.

4.     Yoga mean union so it is all about connection.  It helps us feel more connected to ourselves, our senses, our bodies, others, nature.  Connection helps!

The good news if this is exactly what we do and why we do what we do at One Tree Yoga.  We believe yoga is a life practice and one of the best tools to deal with stress and the stressors of daily life.