Yoga: A Self-Care Ritual

In the world we live in, life can be challenging. For most of us, waking up early, working late at night, daily commuting, exercise, etc; is a lot to balance; with so much on the mind, it's easy to feel stressed for anyone. Stress is present on a daily basis which can be mild and sometimes unbearable resulting in hypertension, depression, etc.

Thus, finding ways to relieve stress and stop it from creeping deeper into your life is imperative and one way to shake off the stress is to practice yoga. We all need an effective solution that helps us overcome mental disturbances and allows us to live peacefully with a healthy mind and body. For any stressed individual, yoga can be a game-changer, especially meditation and physical asanas are magic to overcoming stress immediately.

Here's how yoga reduces stress and manages these issues effectively, according to Abhishek Otwal, a renowned yoga instructor:

Ultimate relaxation:
Yoga reduces stress and promotes relaxation, which is the natural opposite of stress. Yoga can benefit three aspects of ourselves that are often affected by stress: our body, mind, and breathing. By practicing yoga, a little bit daily can drastically affect your well-being in a positive manner. It induces positive energy to your body making one calmer, focused, balanced and relaxed. Whether you are at home, work or somewhere in between, yoga is always here to help you relax.

Imbibes mindfulness:
When we're under stress, we often start thinking more about the repercussions of things that we do or wonder about what will be the future instead of being in the moment and enjoying it for the time being. Sometimes practicing yoga lets you think introspect yourself and makes you be in a moment of mindfulness. For instance, focusing your body with yoga indirectly makes you notice a lot of things about yourself, allowing oneself to be just rightly present in that particular moment. Being in the moment like this helps you build your ability to focus and concentrate, which helps in all aspects of life.

Helps you know yourself a little bit more:
Yoga is nothing but uniting mind, body and soul and therefore, one of the best reasons to add yoga to your daily kitty is that it helps you find out more about your mind, body, and emotions.

Reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression:
A number of studies have shown that yoga may help reduce stress and anxiety. Yoga can enhance your mood and overall sense of well-being. Yoga might also help you manage your symptoms of depression and anxiety that are due to difficult situations. If you are performing Yoga outdoors, experiencing the vibrant colours, sounds and feel of the outdoors during your yoga practice can provide a positive energy boost.

Improves mental strength:
A common benefit most people recall is that yoga improves your strength and flexibility for your body as well as your mind. Yoga exercises improve mental toughness as it pores in confidence with the body movements and forces the mind to be more focused. When one is doing yoga, the mind gets busy taking care of the coordination of the muscles or making the body stay in a particular posture or form. The staying power as it develops in the mind with its efforts to keep the body still is what is called mental stamina. Yoga is one of the most effective natural ways to improve brainpower. After all, a strong mind is definitely linked to a healthy brain.

Boosts confidence:
Yoga helps move the body in directions and ways which one would have never moved before, these new experiences and how one master the new maneuvers lifts the confidence of the practitioner related to the unknown. A boost in the confidence level is necessary to remain persistent on any path chosen by an individual.

Rebuilding focus:
Yoga helps gather the scattered mind from everywhere and focus its energy on one thought, action or task. The concentrated energy provides additional power to do what is desired, a scattered mind is a weak mind. Practicing yoga meditation regularly helps habituate the mind on remaining focused and concentrated.

(IANS)