SIDE NOTE: I think I should have been born early enough to be in my teens in the hippie generation, but even though I was an 80’s and 90’s kid, I still had a great time.
Yoga, the 3,000 year old Hindu discipline of mind and body that became big to the Western World with the hippie generation of the Sixties and early Seventies.
Yoga Is Becoming A HUGE Stress Management Tool!
As more people see the stress management benefits of yoga, even businesses all over the world are starting to use yoga as a workplace stress management plan. Helping professionals, nurses, even big businesses around the world have new and very effective yoga classes in-house for employees. The image most people have of yoga, as a mystic practice of “mythical” stuff is quickly dying off as more and more people realize how yoga helps with all sorts of real everyday stuff.
Yoga centers now have loads of competition from adult education classes, community colleges, boards of education, and parks and recreation departments.
The meaning of yoga is the union of the body and mind. With all the different types of yoga, there can be endless years of practice and learning for a willing person. But, once you find a type of yoga you like and feel does its job you can stick with that and that only if you would like.
Is Yoga Good For Stress Management?
Image Source: https://7pranayama.com/7-amazing-yoga-poses-stress-relief/
Hatha Yoga is one of the most popular forms of yoga here in the west. It focuses on postures, which stretch and strengthen the body, help develop a sense of balance and flexibility, as well as body awareness and mental concentration.
Just about all types of yoga involve the practice of proper breathing for relaxation, to rest the mind from its constant distractions, to experience inner calm, and to energize the body.
With stress in society reaching new heights, Raja Yoga, the yoga of meditation, is growing in popularity in the Western world, while other types, such as Krya Yoga, the yoga of cleansing, and Mantra Yoga, the yoga of chanting, not surprisingly, have little appeal for newcomers and people trying to have stress relief in their shorts spurts of spare time.
Stretching and toning, even though highly beneficial, aren’t the main reasons people turn to yoga. People just starting out are hoping that yoga will be a means for handling stress and diffusing tension they have built throughout the week.
What’s The Difference Between Yoga and General Exercise?
The difference between exercise and yoga is that yoga has a meditation quality and is more relaxing.
A lot of people are trying exercising for psychological benefits and are starting to try many Eastern methods, like yoga and tai chi. Yoga seems to have a calming effect on people and provides better stress management than some of the other alternatives.
Yoga techniques work on children as well as adults. When your children are acting up or fighting, ask them to stop what they’re doing, raise their arms over their heads, lean forward, and breathe deeply to help diffuse their anger. It definitely helps them to cool it.
