5 Benefits of Yoga to Reduce Stress

How do we tackle this problem in this world-gone-crazy that we live in?  If we can’t change the pace the world zooms around us, we can certainly practise healthy habits to help us manage the pace.  Of course, GxS is going to recommend yoga!

Let’s see how yoga is helpful! And remember to read on for our two nutritional guides too!

1. Regulating Your Breath

Breath work is a very important component in yoga.  Different breathing techniques are used to lead your practice into meditation and movement. Often, when you are stressed, your breaths are shortened.  Learning to regulate your breathing helps to calm the nervous system and allows you to manage the situation at hand in a more productive way.  Yoga teaches you to bring awareness to your breathing and using it to help you move through challenging poses in the practice - all which aims to train your mind and body to move through challenging situations with a steady, calm breath. 

2. Relaxing Your Mind and Body

Not only does breathing help calm the mind but many resting poses, such as Child’s Pose and reclining postures, help calm your nervous system and relax your muscles.  Hip opening stretches are also great to release physical tension in your body and even trapped emotions! That’s why many people feel refreshed and rejuvenated after a yoga class!

3. Mind & Body Awareness

Yoga takes a lot of concentration as you sync your breath to movement.  Learning to connect your mind and body in your practice brings awareness to areas where you need balance and engagement.  You start to notice muscles that are rarely activated or stretched in areas that need more strengthening.  We often hold on to unnecessary tension in our bodies and in our lives. Being on the mat is an opportunity for you to start becoming aware of tension areas that need release.  

4. Practising Presence

Yoga teaches you to be present. Being present and mindful is noticing the ‘now’ and only the now.  So often, we are so busy holding on to events in the past or planning the future that we waste our lives forgetting to appreciate the gift of presence. 'Presence' doesn’t have a second chance.  Maybe it is the gentle breeze, the feeling of your head touching the mat or the smell of the room. Taking notice of the finer details of the present teaches you gratitude for the little things; often the things ignored or taken for granted.  When you start taking notice of these small things, you shift your focus from stresses that consume you to focussing on your surrounding, and creating space to be grateful for all the blessings you have. 

5. Decluttering your Mind

At Grace x Strength, we encourage you to use your time on the mat as your devotion time with God. This in itself, is a time to enjoy without distraction. We do not believe in the emptying of our minds, because the mind is not created to be emptied. We believe in decluttering the mind and filling it with beautiful truths from God.  Bringing our view on life to a top down perspective instead of bottom up perspective - steering our focus away from our stressful situation and remembering that it is not what our future holds but WHO holds our future.

 

BONUS NUTRITION TIPS FOR STRESS: 

Two types of foods which help counter the negative effects of stress - Adaptogenic herbs and foods with high antioxidants.

What are Adaptogenic Herbs?

In simple terms, they are a group of herbs that are nurtured in harsh environments where they have learnt to adapt and survive. They are, therefore, able to provide the same affects to help our bodies adapt in harsh environments i.e. stress. These herbs include holy basil, ginseng, rosemary, astragalus and many more!

What are Antioxidants?

As a result of your body’s natural processes, such as food breakdown and breathing, free radicals are released into your body. It’s a complex process and we’re not here to study biology! Simply put, the more free radicals in your body, the faster your body ages, not to mention all the other nasty things they do to your body. 

Antioxidants slows down the ageing process of your body by preventing the damages of free-radicals to the body.  Foods with high antioxidants are found in... berries! - with acai berry in the lead followed by blueberries and goji berries.  There are also a range of herbs and spices with very high antioxidants, e.g. clove, cinnamon, oregano, and turmeric.

Give us some feedback if you try these herbs and antioxidants out.  We want to hear whether you see positive results from our sharing! 

Be blessed! xx

In this fast-paced, modern world of digital, a lot of us are exposed to constant digital signals, sometimes overloading the mind to process unnecessary information.  On the low end of the scale, you have all the notifications running on your phone apps. On the higher end of the scale, you have unhealthy addiction to social media.  The digital culture has wired us to be “on-demand”, causing us to stress over every “ding”.   Did you know that your body responds to every one of these “dings”?

Let’s start by understanding what stress does to the body.  When we are exposed to a stressful situation, our body responds by releasing a surge of hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline. This is the body’s natural way to equip us to respond to through “fight or flight”, resulting in a surge of energy and increased heart rate.  It’s handy if you were trapped in the woods and needed to determine whether to run or fight off a wild animal!  But that elevated state of alertness is not healthy for prolonged periods of time.  Being exposed to constant stress without the opportunity for the body to rest subjects our body to all sorts of unhealthy malfunctions.