Life is about taking on challenges and exploring new things every day. However, every endeavor comes with stress. Our body often needs various strategies to relieve the physical, mental, and spiritual stress that we encounter daily. A great way to go about squeezing the stress out of your mind, body, and spirit is yoga. Yoga is one of the oldest and most renounced ways of keeping your existence in harmony. In this blog post, we will focus on some of the basic yoga practices and, especially, their extremely beneficial effects on mental health. So, if you're looking for a way to improve your mental health, look no further than yoga!
There are many different types of yoga, and each one has its own unique set of benefits. Hatha yoga is a great starting point for beginners, as it focuses on basic poses and breathing techniques. As you progress in your yoga practice, you can move on to more advanced styles such as Ashtanga or Vinyasa. Regular yoga practice can generally help you improve:
- Strength, balance, and flexibility
- Mental strength and flexibility
- Back pain
- Heart health
- Sleeping habits
- Energy levels
- Management of stress
- Self-care
As a beginner, you can get into a yoga routine within no time. Unlike weighted workouts or gym training, all you need is a yoga and some stretchy outfit. Start with the basic hatha yoga which has three main components with it; body, breathing, and mind. Yes, it is as simple as it sounds. In this form of yoga, you have to perform certain movements and hold certain positions while you focus on deep breathing and the clarity of your mind. Actively focusing on achieving a healthy mind-state is the key in this yoga. As you might have realized it is also a great way to scale your mental health.
Some basic moves and poses that you can go for are:
- Child’s pose
- Downward-facing dog pose
- Plank pose
- Cobra pose
- Triangle pose
- Tree pose
As mentioned above, yoga is a great way to overcome anxiety and depression. It helps you to connect with your body and mind, and it teaches you how to relax and let go of stress and negative thoughts. Anxiety, depression, as well as other common mental health problems such as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) or OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), can be helped to do yoga routines. The more advanced forms of yoga are physically demanding and will keep you in shape.
Two of the best yoga poses for reducing stress are a child's or baby pose (balasana) and legs up the wall (viparita karani). Balasana is where you lie on your back with knees bent up towards your chest while hugging them tightly like a baby in its mother's womb! Viparita karani is a pose in which you lay down on the floor with your feet elevated and rested against the wall. Many other yoga poses have been shown to reduce stress levels; however, these two are among those most commonly used by yoga instructors around the world today because they are easy enough for beginners to master quickly while also being effective at helping yoga practitioners achieve their goals of better health through yoga practice.
Your physical and mental health is the most important commodity you can ever have. At times they are challenged by various diseases and stresses. However, you should always strive for a sustainable body and mind to live every moment to the fullest. So, if you're looking for a way to improve your mental health, yoga is a great option – offering many health benefits and tailored to your specific needs!
