Yoga Against Stress: 3 Exercises

Some exercises can help us to tackle stress with yoga. One concentrates entirely on the present moment so that fear and bad feelings do not take over the lead in our life.

Nowadays yoga is widespread. Many people practice the various forms of it. Especially in our present time, many suffer more and more from stress and fear. And it is precisely for these types of problems that the following anti-stress yoga exercises can help.

Stress severely affects our health. You may notice this from excessive hair loss or from being very emotionally unbalanced. But not only that. Our body begins to somatize various problems. This means that he begins to transform the psychological stresses into physical complaints. And these problems are all related to stress.

Migraines, cramps, abdominal pain … all of these ailments can be alleviated and even cured if you are ready to face the stress with these effective and simple yoga exercises.

Therefore, today we want to introduce you to 3 exercises for yoga against stress . With them you will surely achieve this goal and go through life more relaxed.

1. Yoga against stress: breathing exercises

All yoga practices involve breathing exercises. Perhaps at first it seems to you as if it increases your fear and anxiety. In fact, these exercises are very effective and can alleviate these negative feelings.

Many of the breathing exercises practiced in yoga should not only be practiced during a yoga class, but also at home. For example, before you go to bed or when you get up. These stressful yoga breathing exercises are really tremendous. You will notice that for yourself very quickly when you try them out.

• Abdominal breathing: Put one hand on your stomach. Now try to fill it with air, then hold your breath for a few seconds and then exhale again. Do the exercise slowly and without rushing.

• The 4-7-8 breathing: while you inhale, count to 4. Then hold your breath and count to 7. While exhaling slowly, count to 8. Then repeat the exercise.

These are two simple, well-known exercises from yoga. In addition, there are of course many other and numerous variants. If you do them regularly, you will find that they bring you great physical and mental relaxation.

2. Meditate

Many yoga practices include meditation at the beginning or at the end of each class. This is incredibly beneficial because meditation enables us to pause and pay attention to our thoughts. This way you can relax and become more aware of your feelings.

It is important to keep breathing slowly during meditation. In doing so, you concentrate very much on inhaling and exhaling so that you are not distracted by any thoughts. Ideally, you will stay fully in the present moment for as long as possible. It is best if you can manage to control the thoughts of the past and future that are causing you so much stress.

You can meditate in the lotus position. But lying down or sitting down is just as good. You can lean against a wall. It is best to adopt the posture that is most comfortable for you.  

3. Progressive muscle relaxation

The last of the exercises for yoga against stress that we present to you here is about the progressive relaxation of the muscles. This is usually done before the final relaxation. The goal is to completely relax the body and relieve it of any stress.

Progressive muscle relaxation consists in focusing on every part of your body. You go through it from top to bottom and tense and relax the muscles. For example, you tense your legs when you inhale and then relax them when you exhale.

You do the same with the rest of your body: your buttocks, arms, hands, eyes, and even your mouth by sticking your tongue out. You will see that after this exercise you will feel completely relaxed and refreshed.

These anti-stress yoga exercises described here are really very effective in treating anxiety and stress. Of course, the various more physically demanding positions in yoga are important. But you can see that this type of exercise is also of great importance, especially in order to relax not only physically but also mentally.

You can do these exercises when you get up in the morning, when you are tense or simply during a break from work. They will help you enjoy the here and now more and have stress under control. Because even if we sometimes cannot avoid it entirely, we can limit or reduce it.

Stress is bad for your health, so keep it from becoming a chronic condition. Under no circumstances should it become a part of you and follow you every step of the way. With patience and by making yoga a part of your everyday life, you can learn to deal with stress so that it doesn’t dominate your life.