Yoga, as the word suggests, is all about coming together of things, integration of faculties and senses of mind, body, soul, and spirit. It is the integration of emotions, psychology, movement, and awareness of being here-now always in the present. And stress is never there in the present. Stress is always about the past or the future. The anxiety about the future or the haunting memories and the fear of the past not wanting them to repeat again in life. Chronic anxiety and stress have been also linked to a wide range of health issues and can have a negative impact on almost every organ and system in the body.
Yoga is naturally the antithesis of tension and helps lower stress. You can unwind and find mental peace and tranquillity through yoga exercises. Yoga assists in letting go of the tension, reducing stress, and producing feel-good chemicals like endorphins, and other naturally occurring neurochemicals.
In every yoga asana or posture, there is stillness, calmness, coming together, holding your body and mind in the present moment awareness, and a feeling of letting go. With asanas like, Balasana, Paschimottanasana, Adho Mukhasvanasana, Setu Bandhasana, Ustrasana, or leg raises... stress simply disappears.
Another way to de-stress and achieve mental peace is yog nidra meditation. This kind of meditation directs your attention to different areas of your body. You start at your feet and work your way up, similar to progressive muscle relaxation. But rather than contracting and relaxing your muscles, you simply concentrate on how each part of your body feels, without categorising the sensations as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
As we breathe, move, and circulate, as we integrate with stretch and contraction simultaneously in every posture, the mental stress, the emotional, hurt, and the pain, dissolves. Even the physical knots open up and as the body opens up, so does the mind opens up. As the mind opens up the body opens. As the Body opens there is a release of mental knots, tension, stress, and adhesions and as the mind opens up there is the release of emotions, tension, and stress.
Breathing in a regulated way, moving in postures with grace without aggression from one to another is a perfect way of releasing stress of all kinds. From disease to ease, from disorder to order, from disintegration to integration, and from degeneration to generation is what one experiences.
Stress Neutralized... Get Mickeymized!
(Mickey Mehta is a global leading holistic health guru and life coach; website: www.drmickeymehta.com)
