Fact or Fiction: Yoga Can Be An Effective Way To Relax

 

If you are like most people who are looking for answers to the problem of alcohol or drug abuse, you could stand a little bit of relaxation. For a large percentage of addicts and alcoholics, stress and anxiety are a major part of life. After all, most of these people only began drinking heavily or using drugs after they ran out of other solutions for coping with the pressures of life. Nobody ever plans to become an addict; usually, it only happens after the person has started becoming dependent on alcohol or drugs as a way to unwind and to escape from unpleasant or overwhelmingly challenging situations in life. Now that you are working to get clean and sober, it is time for you to find effective tools which you can use to manage stress and to keep your life under control, because it is not enough to decide to quit; you also have to make changes in your life so that you don’t find yourself in the same position again.

One of the most popular methods of developing greater mental and physical control, and therefore of becoming more capable of managing stress and relaxing, is yoga. With a history that dates back several millennia, yoga has been practiced by countless people throughout history, but it has only recently taken on a mainstream appeal. Yoga was originally developed as an aspect of religious practice for the Hindus of India, and it maintains its status this capacity today. It was first recognized on any noticeable scale in the Western world in the 19th century, and in the past few decades it has taken on a new role in the United States and other countries. A large percentage of those who now practice yoga do so without any thought of it as a religious practice, but instead are looking for a way to relax and to achieve a higher level of physical fitness. Some question whether yoga actually provides an effective route to relaxation, but its workability in this respect would be difficult to dispute in light of its history. Even if you have never personally tried yoga, you may be able to ascertain whether it serves to assist the practitioner in relaxing based on the fact that so many millions of people have used it in the past as a way of pursuing spiritual peace and enlightenment.

 

Physical And Mental Health Benefits Of Yoga

It is easy to understand the reasons why yoga may be useful in helping you to relax. One of the fundamentals

of yoga is the development of a greater degree of attention on and control over one’s breathing. Throughout a session, you will be expected to exercise active control of the rhythm and pace of your inhalation and exhalation, and this discipline will tend to carry over into the rest of your life. Taking longer, deeper and more regular breaths has the effect of flooding your brain and the rest of your body with oxygen, which can lead to greater relaxation and overall health. In addition to breathing exercises, yoga also involves the performance of a wide variety of poses, ranging from the simple and easy to those that are extremely challenging to get into and to hold. Many people who start doing yoga are surprised to learn that it is far more than simply sitting in the lotus position, but can be enormously physically demanding. Yoga practitioners not only enjoy increased levels of flexibility and limberness, but also far greater strength and balance. Further, the breathing and exercise in yoga tend to improve blood circulation, which among other things serves to achieve greater balance throughout the body. As a result of all these factors, most people to start practicing yoga soon find that they are able to enjoy better levels of overall relaxation, both during the class and in their daily lives. In support of this, the Mayo Clinic reports on several scientific studies which have demonstrated that yoga can reduce stress and anxiety while also giving a boost to one’s mood and overall sense of well-being. The best way to find out whether it works for relaxation, however, is to try it for yourself.

Source: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/yoga/CM00004