Mild anxiety is common for most people from time to time, but chronic anxiety can greatly impact the body by draining energy, causing tension to build in the muscles, impacting a person’s breathing and causing the brain to go into overdrive with constant and overwhelming thoughts and feelings.
Yoga provides you with a way to access your inner strength and allow you to face fears, frustrations and challenges. Yoga helps to reduce stress in the body, breath and mind and helps to build coping skills by incorporating yoga in the daily routine of exercise, breathing and meditation. Some basic yoga practices help to regulate the breath and relax the body by gently releasing tension from muscles, flushing all parts of the body and brain with fresh oxygen, blood and other nutrients, which will help to increase feelings of well-being.
There are many different poses, but whole body poses such as the sun poses are especially helpful because they encourage you to breathe deeply and to a rhythm. Many yoga postures can be adapted to be done from a chair, for those who cannot comfortably do yoga on the floor or for those who wish to incorporate some yoga into their workday by practicing from their office chair.
Breathing techniques can easily be learned and practiced anywhere and anytime, to help reduce stress, reduce the severity of a panic attack, calm the mind, and/or cope with a difficult situation. Learning yoga postures and breathing techniques can help to switch your attention from feelings of anxiety to feelings of relaxation.
Daily practice of yoga postures, relaxation and meditation, even if just for a few minutes each day, can make a huge difference to your health. The daily practice helps you to focus on stillness and consciously quiet your mind whenever you feel overwhelmed, stressed, or anxious, leading to greater self-awareness and a healthier and happier life.