It’s been a little while since I put a post up to update the site, but now that the holidays are over and life is returning to normal, this seems like a good time to get some writing done and put a few questions, and maybe a couple of answers up. Today’s post has to do with natural stress relief. Some of you that are reading this may be wondering to yourselves whether all stress relief is natural stress relief. But obviously, that isn’t a point that I’m going to be making. After all, popping an anti-depressant or something like Xanax can offer quite a bit of stress relief in the short term. I am certainly not advocating anything like that though. Of course, I’m not advocating anything against that either, it’s just not in the scope of today’s post.
The best type of relief or treatment for any condition or disease is usually going to be that of the “natural” variety. At least, that’s the growing consensus it seems. Natural doesn’t mean harm free, or that there are no side effects, but what I’m getting to today has very few side effects, even though you should still be talking to your doctor to make sure you’re healthy enough to give it a try. Are you ready for the natural stress relief method of choice for us lately?
Yoga.
Right, yoga is a nice way to de-stress, get a little bit of a break from the rigors of the day, and even get a bit more physically fit while you’re at it. There are quite a few types of yoga that you can give a try, but for stress relief, perhaps the best way to go is something with a focus on slower movements and a meditative pace to the practice. More difficult forms of yoga, such as power yoga or Bikram which is often done in a very hot studio to induce a significant sweat, those aren’t usually going to fit the bill here for natural stress relief. A good yoga practice for natural stress relief will hopefully include a simple warm up (sun salutations can be a bit strenuous, but these have been the hardest part of the practice so far in my case), some sort of meditation in order to get started, and then a fairly smooth sequence of poses to help you stress, breathe easy, and unwind quite a bit.
In all honesty, there aren’t any real yoga experts around here writing on this site but the short experience I’ve had with yoga, and the incredible stress relief benefits make us think that yoga is perhaps a go to activity to unwind.
Is it going to be a panacea of sorts when it comes to natural stress relief? Nope, not everyone is going to be physically able to do even the most basic styles of yoga. However, for those who can, it is nothing short of amazing.
What does yoga have to do with other methods of natural stress relief? To be honest, all of the points above are pretty much the only answer to this question. Light and fairly low stress exercise, meditation, flexibility to relieve the tension of the day that often builds up in joints and muscles, and perhaps the most important point of all being that it takes you away from the stresses of the day for at least 20 minutes, but may even take an hour or two if you have the experience, the will and the time.
Can you just implement meditation to get some relaxation? Sure, I’ve even written about it a touch on the site. And there is definitely a time and a place for people who choose to use the practices to relax a bit to separate the two. However, if you’re up to it, and want to get the most bang for your buck when time is somewhat limited, getting into yoga for stress relief can be a perfect way to go.
Do you do yoga? If so, what kind and where did you go to learn? Any good DVDs or books to learn from?
