Yoga for Stress Relief
Stress is your body’s way of reacting to a certain demand or threat. Your reaction can be emotional or physical. If not taken care of in a short amount of time, the long term repercussions can be quite disastrous. Stress is however something that affects all human beings. We just need to learn to be able to manage it a lot better. Whether it’s work related, or an emotional relationship that has caused tension, there are many tools that can be useful and extremely beneficial to both the mind and body.
I’ve come to learn that most of the time, us humans tend to carry stress and strain directly on our shoulders. Yes, whether stress affects us in both an emotional or physical way, certain body parts are directly affected when the head and heart feel weighted down and emotionally battered. When I say shoulders, this adheres to the entire neck region — the neck, shoulders, and the upper back in a way as well. When tension or stress adds up, it also leads into other strains and painful situations such as headaches, migraines, lower back pain and overall discomfort.
As someone who has studied yoga and physiology as a means of relieving stress, here are a few ways I’ve learned in time to manage some of that strain.
Neck and shoulder relief
My number one tip for some neck and shoulder pain stiffness or any kind of relief is roll-ups. As you inhale bring the shoulders up to your ears, hold for a breath or two if you can manage it, and then weigh in on your elbows as you exhale and bring the shoulders down. You could do this little exercise in a circular kind of motion or simply in a up and down kind of motion, whichever works best for you.
Lifting the chin up to the sky on an inhale and holding for a breath or two, and then lowering on an exhale to the chest could be a secondary exercise. A left to right movement of the head synchronising with breath could be an added movement after.
Another great yet simple exercise is to weigh in one ear to the same shoulder. Let’s take the right side for example — the right ear tilted towards the right shoulder. You don’t need to crank it and force it down. Just where is comfortable is fine and where you’d feel a nice stretch on the left side of the neck, shoulder and side body. If you want to take it a little further extend the left hand outwards and lift the palm like as if you were pressing against an imaginary wall. This will add a deeper stretch to the neck, shoulder and side body. Hold for a couple of breaths and on an exhale, bring the head back to the center and repeat on the other side.
If that seemed a bit much, you could use your imagination and use your nose to draw small, medium and large circles. Start small and then end in a large circle. If you began a clockwise motion, pause after a couple and then move counterclockwise.
Headaches and migraines
As someone who used to be plagued with migraines on nearly a weekly basis, pranayama (breathing techniques and exercises) have saved the day. There are many variations you could choose from but I find the alternate nostril breathing technique to work best even if you are someone who suffers from sinus or a heavy head. You’ll use your most comfortable hand to help you with this; I will guide you with the right hand. Use the right thumb to close your right nostril as you take a deep inhale through the left nostril. Pause. Retain the breath. Gently then close the left nostril with your pinkie finger, and open up the thumb to allow you to exhale through the right nostril. Once again pause. The idea here is to slower the breath. Your pinkie will still be closing in on the left nostril, so inhale through the right nostril. Pause. Retain the breath. Gently then close the right nostril with your thumb, and open up the pinkie to allow you to exhale through the left nostril. Pause yet again. You can keep doing this exercise until you feel some relief.
Holding a child’s pose — knees either wide apart and big toes touching, or knees completely together, bring your bum right down onto or towards your heels. Bend forward and come to rest the forehead on the ground. You could do this on a mat, bed, or even on a towel or blanket should you feel some discomfort on the ankles and/or knees. The motion of laying the forehead touching the ground is calming, and and normalises circulation throughout the body. You could stay in this pose for as long as 10–15 minutes.
Upper and lower back relief
Previously mentioned shoulder rolls would also provide some comfort for the upper back. If you are looking to target the back area specifically a yogic squat is best. Come to stand with your feet hip width apart. Then widen the stance just a bit and angle the toes slightly outward. Slowly lower the entire body as you come into your squat. If your heels life, do not worry. In time, you’ll be able to lower them. Your knees would also feel like they are coming in, so bring your hands into prayer position in front of you, and use your elbows to push them apart. Stay in this position for five minutes, breathing deeply.
Breathing
If all else fails, you have your breath to fall back on. Trust in that. Believe it. Five minutes of deep inhalations, a poignant pause in between, and long exhalations can do wonders especially in times of stress. Slowing your heart rate sends signals to your mind and body to relax. There are many methods of breathing but I simply find doing it at my own pace works best. You could place one hand on your belly, and one hand on the heart as you do this. You could do this while standing, sitting, or even lying down.
