Can Yoga Help Me Relieve Stress?

by Neighborhood Trainers Finding a trainer is a personal choice

Yoga has long been known for its contemplative abilities. When you practice yoga you take the time to go inside a pose and in getting the pose right, you do get out of the everyday world.

Even with hot yoga, where you have an intense workout, you’re still forced out of the everyday. If you haven’t tried it, here’s the clue, with hot yoga you focus on the yoga and if you don’t there will be trouble.

At a Bronx Yoga class, you can learn a range of poses which are helpful in releasing stress.

Balasana – Child’s Pose

This is one of the most effective poses for stress relief. Even in a yoga class you come back to child’s pose again and again to regroup and rest. The gentle back stretch and the calming position will help lower heartbeat and blood pressure too.

Uttanasana – Standing forward bend

If you can do it, your palms are flat on the floor beside your feet and you face and knees are looking at each other. The pose is best done with the knees slightly bent to take the stress off. The pose gently stretches hamstrings, thighs and hips and forces you to see the world from upside down and with some perspective too.

Garudasana -- Eagle Pose

This is different from the previous two poses because rather than being reflective, Garudasana is an active pose and to do it you need both concentration and balance. Having to think about something else, if only to stop yourself from falling over, stops you from having to pay attention to the stressors and look at something else.

Utthita Trikonasana – Extended Triangle Pose

This is a full body stretch that you often see being done at Queens Yoga classes. Everything, your legs your arms and your back are all stretched out as you reach for the sky and the ground at the same time. This pose also helps in digestion and mitigates the symptoms of anxiety. It is sort of its own stress-be-gone pose.

Viparita Karani – Legs up the wall pose

Everyone owes it to themselves to do this once a day. For a start the stretch is fantastic. Inverting yourself changes your point of view and you don’t really have any choice but to relax into the position.

Savasana – Corpse Pose

Most yoga classes end with Savasana. When it gets to this point you know you have survived another class. It is a metaphor for life.