Does Yoga solve your life's problems?

 

By Diana Chaves

How can yoga help manage everyday stress?

Yoga came to be in India around 5000 years ago. It’s in essence a system of living for it entails not just physical exercise ( a fairly recent addition to the practice) but also a moral system and set of techniques to “tame” your mind. Yoga was exported from India at the beginning of the 21st century and it’s a growing thriving practice in the West. Today almost everyone has, at the very least, heard of it or seen a picture of someone sitting cross legged looking peaceful meditating. Its increasing popularity and positive results have given rise to scientific studies about the effects of a regular practice and a lot (not all) of the benefits attributed to it have been consistently proven to be true. Better stress management is one of them.


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So… what is stress? 

Stress is a natural response that keeps us alive in case of need for survival. Our bodies are prepared to react to an external threatening stimuli and generate the necessary stamina either to fight or flight. It does so by, amongst other things, increase your heart rate and blood pressure, directs more blood and adrenaline to the periphery (your limbs, so you can run or fight) decreasing inflow to your internal organs. Robert Sapolsky, Biology and Neurology Professor from Stanford University states that our bodies are prepared to deal with immediate physical threats and also to return to its natural state, a homeostatic state - ideal level of oxygen, ideal degree of acidity, ideal temperature, ideal blood pressure, etc - a stat of natural organic balance. When we worry about something in our lives we’re triggering the same physical reactions as if we need to run to save ourselves from being attacked by a lion. The issue is we tend to worry consistently and non stop because, well, life just doesn’t give us a break! The thing is, Life does not give us a break. It’s always challenging us to do more, to pay the mortgage, to get a promotion, to put the kids in bed... and that goes on and on. When we are chronically in stress response state, it means we’re setting ourselves up for stress related disease. (If you stop to think about it, the word itself is a hint to what’s going on dis-ease) Our bodies get used to functioning this way to the point we don’t realise how much we need to just rest… stop.

If life doesn’t stop and there’s always some problem to solve, how can Yoga help? 

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When the weather is cold, what do you do? You wear and extra layer of clothes. Right? Same here. We can’t control Life and what it brings us, but we can choose how we deal with it. Stress is a good thing, it helps you when you’re struggling with a deadline, it keeps you sharp when you need to get out of a bad situation, it helps you stay alive. It becomes dangerous when you allow it to take over you. It all starts with your mindset. That’s where yoga kicks in. 

A good Yoga practice includes the postural practice, breath expansion exercises and concentration techniques for the mind. Postural yoga (you know, the “putting yourself in a position you never dreamed of when you woke up that day!”) gets your body moving. It can increase mobility, strength, cultivate different movement patterns, improve spine health, amongst many other benefits. In summary, it makes us move! Breath expansion  teaches you to breath better and has an interesting side effect you might not have considered (bedsides much better oxygenation of your entire body), it triggers your nervous system. Granted we can’t tell our body to calm down (When you’re upset, if someone tells you to calm down, how did that work out? Not good right?) but we can choose to calm it down by choosing to control our breath. Do you know the common expression “take a deep breath” when someone is upset? Well, it’s because there is a connection between breath and mental state. And how about concentration techniques? Well, you can think that your mind is like a muscle, the more you work on it, the better it functions. The more you practice meditation, specially techniques that involve concentrating on an “object” - a flower, your breath, a mantra - the better you get a recognising what’s going on inside yourself. We tend to live in dissociation with our selves, with our body (how often do you remember to drink water when your busy?) and specially with our emotions - in the sense of the way we react to things around us. Regular meditation practice helps us learn to listen to whats going on with us so we can assess what the reality of the situation is, evaluate with discernment and detachment, and make an informed choice as to how we want to deal with a situation. 

Evidently Yoga doesn’t solve your Life’s problems. I’d like to remind you that you are the Captain of your ship, and you can choose to do things differently. Yoga provides the tools to support your Journey, it’s really up to you to make the right choices for yourself. The choices that will help you live in peace inside yourself. It’s a life long practice for we are forever changing and challenges are ever being brought forth, but you can learn from each one.  I’m not going to lie to you, it’s not easy and it involves a lot of work. Ultimately, what you need to realise is that the yield of choosing to deal better with stress is a much more peaceful life, if not externally, internally, with yourself. When we make positive life changes it has a ripple effect, your family and friends will also benefit. 

Yoga helps you manage everyday stress by providing a set of tools that empower you. You can do it.

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