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Yoga to Release Stress
By Christina | October 20, 2007
Yoga is a promising relief to stress because it fosters self awareness and awareness of the body’s responses to stressors. It is reported that 66% of all doctor visits are related from stress initiated conditions. Doctors are prescribing yoga more and more to patients and Consumer Reports Magazine even reported an outstanding method to lower stress is yoga! 21 studies were done on the subject of Yoga for modern medicine which concluded that yoga therapy is a valuable tool in the prevention and/ or rehabilitation of cardiac, asthma, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
It was also found that some of the yoga poses which required the head to be in a downwards, below the heart position caused a reduction in the release of the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine which increased stress tolerance and therefore acted as a tranquilizer. This may be why downward facing dog and shoulder stand are considered relaxation poses as opposed to the physical act of doing the pose brings relaxation, it is the hormonal response! Now that makes sense.
Another factor contributing to the stress release response during yoga is attitude. If you walk into a studio where the teacher is rigid, the group competitive and the need to be perfect in what you do is stressed, you may find your stress going up. The attitude you bring to the practice of release and peace are also powerful forces in the battle to diminish stress.
Try yoga and see how it makes you feel!
