During the last hundred years the way of life for us has changed considerably. Medical science has managed to put an end to many of our disease. But now we have a new epidemic, stress-related disorders. Generally caused by our inability to adapt to the highly competitive pace of modern life. Due to medical research we have become more informed as to how stress can effect our health.
Effects of Stress
1. Heart Disease
2. High Blood Pressure
3. Asthma
4. Obesity
5. Headaches
6. Depression or anxiety
7. Gastrointestinal Inflammation
8. Sexual Dysfunction
9. Accelerated Ageing
Relaxation isn’t just about watching the TV or enjoying a hobby. A Relaxation practice is a process that decreases the effects of stress on your mind and body. Relaxation techniques can help you to cope with everyday stress and with stress related to various health problems.
When faced with so many responsibilities or health issues, relaxation techniques tend to take a back seat in your life. Leading to missing out on many of the benefits:
Benefits
1. Decreased heart rate
2. Lowering blood pressure
3. Slowing your breathing rate
4. Increasing blood flow to major muscles
5. Reducing muscle tension and chronic pain
6. Improving concentration
7. Reducing anger and frustration
8. Boosting confidence to handle problems
9. Improve sleep patterns
There are several methods of relaxation. The following practices are what we focus on:
Body Scanning
Body Scanning is a guided practice that you leads you through the body, spending time connecting to the sensations that arise from the body.. The aim is to train your focus while remaining mindful and accepting toward any sensation that may arise. By becoming aware of tensions within the body in rest we are able to monitor when we create tension in are daily lives. In cases of pain and muscle tension, science shows that accepting sensations is more effective than trying to control them.
Yoga Nidra
Yoga Nidra (sleep) is a guided practice, which directs your attention through a mental sequence, of settling the mind, rotation of consciousness, awareness of breath, focus on feelings and sensations and visualization. .
The practice of yoga relaxation has been found to reduce tension and anxiety. The autonomic symptoms of high anxiety such as headache, giddiness, chest pain, palpitations, sweating, abdominal pain respond well to this practice.
Breathing Therapy
Breathing exercises bring wonderful benefits because they can reverse the stress response, which if chronically triggered and not reversed in a timely manner, can lead to chronic stress. This can really wreak havoc on your body. Therefore, breathing exercises can be said to bring the over-reaching benefit of reversing the myriad problems caused by chronic stress. Purposefully slowing the breath has been shown to trigger powerful states of relaxation and raise body temperature. The techniques used are based on connecting with your natural breath and then being able to direct it into more advanced practices.