I personally love yoga and meditation for the reason that they relieve stress.
I recently read that “Stress is the epidemic of our time”. I am sure you can recall countless times in your life when you felt that the workload and pressure were getting too much for you. Interestingly, when we are under stress, we become less productive. Often we are then less motivated, exercise less or withdraw socially. We often eat less (or a lot more), cannot sleep well, and we stop believing in ourselves.
Is stress just something we have to live with? Fortunately not. There are a few things you can do to reduce stress in my life, to compensate for it or to become less aware of it.
Like your body, your mind needs rest and nourishment to be in a healthy and positive state. If you spend a fraction of your time doing breathing exercises, yoga, mindfulness, and meditation each day, it will relieve symptoms of stress. Scientific studies have shown for years that mindfulness exercises reduce the feeling of stress. In brain scans, we can see that after a few weeks of meditation, the part of the brain that activates the stressful state becomes anatomically smaller. Thus the stress level can stay the same and we are more relaxed.
Give it a try today – turn off the TV and spend some time with yourself. Sit in a quiet room, set a timer for 5 minutes and give focus inward. Remember what you are grateful for right now. Don’t push yourself to think positively. Just relax and the good thoughts will come to you. When calm comes over you, the feeling of stress will turn into serenity, joy and creativity.
