Yoga by Gillian

Stress is one of the biggest epidemics in the western world with an estimated 74% of people feeling so overwhelmed they couldn’t cope. April is officially Stress Awareness month, which also coincides with the season of spring and the wood element. Read on to find out how yoga can help you manage stress and feel more at ease.

Stress is a bad word

Stress is often seen as a bad word or as a way of expressing how busy we are. The number of times I hear people saying how stressed they are is ridiculous. They mean that they are feeling the pressure of working hard at something. Perhaps they have more than one thing to complete and they would like everyone else to know about it.

This scenario is probably familiar to many of you, using the word ‘stressed’ when we mean ‘busy,’ has become a bit of a badge of honour. Stress is a good thing and is actually necessary for us to function optimally. We all know the people who thrive waiting until the night before a deadline to write that report. The pressure ignites their fight or flight response, fuelling their body with the adrenaline necessary to pull an all-nighter to complete the task.

How stress impacts our body

But we’re not talking about this everyday stress here. It becomes an issue when the everyday stresses of modern living mount up. This leads to overwhelm becoming a constant companion. Repeated instances of stress over a long period of time can begin to add up. Our bodies become trapped in the fight or flight mode where we feel constantly under threat with little to no opportunity to switch off.

This level of stress can lead to an alarming array of symptoms within the body:

• High blood pressure
• Changes to the brain resulting in anxiety or depression.
• Obesity
• Insomnia
• Headaches
• Increased sensitivity to pain

How yoga can help you manage stress

The good news is that there are ways we can combat this, helping to soothe the Central Nervous System out of the fight or flight mode and into rest and digest. Yoga can help you manage stress through making use of various techniques including postures, breathing and relaxation.

Yoga helps to reduce the feelings of overwhelm by helping to lower cortisol, a stress hormone within the body. While any style of yoga may help to bring about these responses Restorative Yoga is my go-to when the world becomes too much.

Using a variety of props, Restorative Yoga is all about creating comfort within the body so that the feeling of support is greater than that of stretch. This is about relaxing, switching off and being comfortable enough to remain in one position for up to 15-minutes. By releasing into the props, during a Restorative Yoga Class encourages a feeling of being supported and held. This allows our Nervous System to begin to feel safe which triggers the relaxation response.

How to use yoga to help you manage stress

Restorative yoga encourages us to create an atmosphere of calm through supportive props, being warm, a quiet environment and darkness. The use of props also serves to allow us to feel supported, this is exactly what we need when stress is becoming an issue.

Just one Restorative Yoga pose at the end of the day may be enough to help you feel more refreshed and ready to face whatever comes next.

Try this supported child’s pose as a way to help switch off the fight or flight response and allow your body (and mind) to switch off completely. Use any props you have to hand to make this pose comfortable for you. It’s all about feeling supported here and being able to remain in the pose for up to 15-minutes.

Head over to the Yoga by Gillian YouTube channel where you will find some Restorative Yoga videos designed to ease the nervous system and encourage relaxation.