Stress is an essential tool for survival. It is the body's way to respond to any demand or threat or even perceived threat. Once the body senses danger, it activates the defense mechanism of the body, which triggers chemical reactions that will help you deal with the situation. These chains of reactions could be either way and are therefore known as the fight or flight reaction. However, you need to understand that the same set of reactions occur irrespective of whether the demand is on the body or the mind. Too much stress and such reactions could be harmful to your health. By following yoga hacks for less stress such as deep breathing which will supply the necessary oxygen to release the tension that develops in the body can be very useful.
What are the end products of prolonged stress?
The not so promising end products of prolonged stress include
• Anxiety
• Low energy
• Lack of motivation to do any work
• Mental exhaustion
• Creative blocks
• Physical ache
• Physical and mental pain
• Insomnia
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Why should you use yoga?
Yoga is a term that is usually associated with the different postures that are practiced. This is especially true in the case of western countries. But yoga is much more than that. You will be able to learn the difference because, in India, postures are called asanas, and it is an essential part of the practice of yoga.
While the asanas physically open up, cleanses and destresses the body, yoga, which also includes different types of meditations, opens up your mind and brings about a body-mind connection. Therefore, yoga hacks for less stress must include a holistic practice that establishes a body-mind connection and enhances inner peace.
Why and how asanas or positions can help relieve stress?
Even for a physically exhausting day or to keep you prepared for a physically exhausting day, the yoga hacks for less stress are asanas. It is because the various poses such as forward folds, legs-up-the-wall, cat/cow poses, pigeon pose, bridge pose and the corpse pose all do their bit in opening you up physically and by supplying the essential oxygen that the body organs require through the proper breathing techniques practiced which will help relieve stress.
How can meditation help relieve stress?
By now, you would have understood that stress releases a set of chemicals into the bloodstream to cope with the situations. When too much of the chemicals are releasing to cope with prolonged stress, it is detrimental to your well-being. Meditation helps the body and mind to recover faster from the influx of the chemicals and is, therefore, a yoga hack for less stress. The effects of meditation can understand from the changes it brings about in the brain. It includes
• shrinking of the amygdale will make you calmer and give you enough time for recovery from the chemical influxes caused by tress making you less prone to harmful and undesirable effects.
• Meditation brings about the growth of the pre-frontal cortex or the gray matter when you spend more time on meditation. When the pre-frontal cortex is functioning effectively through meditation and mindfulness, the lower-order brain's activities get reduced and relieve you of stress.
• Meditation helps reduce the background noises in your brain. The awareness and measures to control the chatter helps you to savior experiences to the fullest and reduces stress
• Meditation helps to improve focus and, thereby, memory. The most important feature of all is that the changes that happen to you due to meditation are relatively permanent.
Changing the Environment
One of the yoga hacks for less stress that you can depend on when you do not find enough relief is to move away from a place or a situation so that you do not get stuck in the vicious cycle of acting and thinking in the same way as the people around you.
Mowing away can help you dwell away from it and focus your attention on dealing with it.
Thus, holistic yoga practices can instill a feeling of inner peace and ensure your well-being physically and mentally.
