How Yoga Can Help Reduce Holiday Stress
Yoga is a practice of performing gentle movements and focusing your attention on self. It is serious self-care. The effects of yoga are beneficial whether you practice for a full hour or just 5 minutes. Here is how yoga can help you manage Holiday Stress:
Take some me time
Whether you are feeling stress from too many activities packed into one month or feeling stress from being alone during this season, yoga can help you to some time to nurture yourself. A yoga practice is a time for quiet, a time to relax, to rest and a time to nurture yourself.
Quiet your mind
Set your to-do list aside, feel and listen to your breath, notice the sensations throughout your body. Stepping away from your thinking brain and stepping into the present moment gives the mind a break and allows it to reset.
Regulate your nervous system
Is something getting on your nerves? Making you feel anxious, jittery, irritable? Yoga helps you shift your nervous system from that activated ‘fight and flight’ mode into a rest and digest mode. By noticing your breath and noticing how your body feels, you connect your mind and body and allow them to relax. When we activate our parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest mode), our body functions better and we feel better.
Re-energize yourself
When the body shifts into its parasympathetic nervous system, this rest and digest state allows the body to shift energy toward taking care of itself instead of being prepared to fight or fly. We were meant to spend most of our time in rest and digest mode, but we often find ourselves in a state of fight or flight with all of the business and distractions in our day. Allowing the body to do it’s work and function better will leave you feeling re-energized.
Sleep better
When you take care of your body during the day and let your body move out of ‘fight or flight’ mode, you set yourself up for a better night of sleep. Through yoga you teach yourself how to relax, rest and move into a state of rest and digest. When you practice this during the day, it’s easier for the body to do it at night. Better sleep allows the body to recharge overnight and you feeling more rested in the morning.
A yoga practice doesn’t have to be long. Even 5 minutes first thing in the morning or right before bed will help.
Try these 3 yoga poses to get started:
1 - Cat Cow
Start on your hands and knees. As you inhale, drop your belly down towards the floor as you gaze up. As you exhale, round your back and drop your chin down towards your chest. Move back and forth as you breathe about 5 times. By focusing on your breath, you help calm your mind and the movements stretch the back and torso.
2 - Childs Pose
Start on hands and knees. Slide your knees a little wider than hip distance apart. Slowly shift your hips back over your heels, drawing them down as far as you can towards your heels. Start to stretch your arms forward in front of you and bring your chest and forehead down towards the floor. Hold here for about 5 breaths paying close attention to the sound of your breath. Having your head down reduces mental stimulation and the movement stretches the hips, low back and shoulders.
3 - Spynx pose
Start on hands and knees. Slowly walk your hands forward until you can come down onto your forearms, then gently lower your hips to the floor. Let your hips relax and get heavy. Lift your head creating length through your spine and look straight ahead. Stay here for about 5 breaths paying close attention to the way the stretch feels through your torso and back. Focusing your attention on the sensations in your body brings you into the present moment (instead of thinking about your to do list) and the movement creates a counter stretch to sitting and improves spine mobility.