Emotional health, Meditation, Personal Development, Women's health, Yoga

Yogic Approach to Stress Relief

We all know that managing stress is one of the greatest challenges of our modern age. Attending Yoga classes is often recommended to those who need relief. I’m here to tell you that Yoga will only work if you approach your practice the right way. I have outlined several steps below that will help you shed a few layers of tension for sure!

Is Your Yoga Class Creating More Stress in Your Life?

I’m wondering if you’ve had this experience:

You decide to go to a yoga class at your center or gym to help relieve long-held tension in your body. Halfway into class you realize that you’re actually becoming more tense. You’re trying to keep up the pace, to mimic everything your neighbor is doing, and to perform your 20th yoga pushup while your arms are shaking and teeth are clenching.

If this sounds familiar, you might be wondering why you’re not experiencing the bliss that was promised. I can explain why…

Yoga for stress relief is a great idea, but it’s not a guarantee. It depends on the style, the teacher, and more importantly on your approach to the practice.

The thing is, it’s not the postures that makes yoga so effective at releasing tension.

The Essence of Yoga

It’s our intention, the deep breathing and the basic understanding that yoga is an ancient therapeutic method (not just a fitness class) that sets up the conditions for peace and well-being.

This study from the International Journal of Yoga explains the essence of yoga well. I especially love this section:

“Four basic principles underlie the teachings and practices of yoga’s healing system. The first principle is the human body is a holistic entity comprised of various interrelated dimensions inseparable from one another and the health or illness of any one dimension affects the other dimensions. The second principle is individuals and their needs are unique and therefore must be approached in a way that acknowledges this individuality and their practice must be tailored accordingly. The third principle is yoga is self-empowering; the student is his or her own healer. Yoga engages the student in the healing process; by playing an active role in their journey toward health, the healing comes from within, instead of from an outside source and a greater sense of autonomy is achieved. The fourth principle is that the quality and state of an individuals mind is crucial to healing. When the individual has a positive mind-state healing happens more quickly, whereas if the mind-state is negative, healing may be prolonged.”

Why Yoga is Not Always Great for Stress Relief

We could be in a posture thinking that’s all we have to do and Yoga just happens. But if we’re approaching each pose in a very Type-A way, the yoga practice will not be a huge help in relieving stress.

You’ll want to avoid:

ignoring your breath and body signals
obsessing about your daily to-do list
reviewing the day in your head
complaining internally about the teacher, your neighbors, the yoga space…

These are all unhelpful ways the mind tries to diminish the beauty of simple, peaceful moments and creates more disharmony inside.

Instead of just showing you restorative postures, I’d like to teach you how to do your yoga practice to relieve stress. Many of the points below are easy to address if you’re doing your own home practice. But even in a live group class, you should feel free to try these out.

How to Practice Yoga for Stress Relief

1. Begin by centering your attention and making an intention

It’s helpful to begin your practice with a brief, honest look at where you’re beginning. Scan the body and consciously release any tension you find along the way as we did in this grounding meditation. Check in with your mood, your emotions, and your mental state.

Based on what you find in this centered place, you can make an intention for your practice; something you want to pay attention to that brings you toward balance. Maybe it’s to be mindful of tension in your neck and jaw in the hope that you can release it by the end of class. Maybe you want to soften your inner attitude. If nothing comes up, then simply remind yourself why you are doing yoga and what you hope to cultivate in the long run. Make sure this intention is coming from a place of deep love and respect for yourself, so phrase it in a positive way, such as…

“I want to listen well to my body’s cues so I remain strong, safe, and healthy”

NOT

“I want to work as hard as I can so I finally lose this baby weight and look like so-and-so over there”.

Can you feel the difference? You may miss opportunities to connect in deeply with yourself and let go of obsessive thoughts that may be causing tension, if your intention is coming from a place of self deprecation. Let’s focus on the positive! You will cultivate whatever you bring to mind!

2. Establish a deep, even breath that is never sacrificed

I’ve been in many yoga classes and several wonderful teachers like to count the breath for students. But just about every time it is WAY too fast for me. I’m giving you permission to stretch the breath out even longer. The teacher won’t know and you will have a more enjoyable, authentic experience if you’re moving with your own breath & timing.

3. Lengthen your exhalations

Tension is released with the out breath as we all know when we let out a deep sigh of annoyance. You can give yourself more time to release by making the exhalation longer than the inhalation.

4. Ground your energy with strong legs

With the legs working strongly in standing postures, tension will drip down from the upper body where it tends to accumulate most (see point below).

5. Spend extra time stretching your neck, chest, shoulders

Triangle is a great posture to get into all these areas. Feel free to rotate your head and your top arm to get into the neck and shoulders. Stretching the arm behind you will access the chest. Feel the legs rotating from the hips and send deep breaths into all the areas you’re opening. In any pose, whenever you feel a slight opening in an area that is tight, go ahead and explore through movement or deeper breathing.

6. Each asana (posture) should have an “aaaahhhh” feeling as you move into it, sustain it, and release it.

A therapeutic practice should be sensual. Yes, this is even true for chaturanga dandasana, the yoga pushup that everyone rushes through because it’s so difficult to hold. You are better off holding plank or modifying by bringing your knees down and descending slowly with the breath, building up your strength to the full pose with time. Otherwise, rushing this posture can ADD tension to the shoulders and neck and may actually DAMAGE your rotator cuff muscles if not done properly. You’ll know you have the strength for chaturanga when you can practice it with a smile and a long exhalation!

Yin yoga is the only example I can think of where you must endure some mild discomfort to release completely, but that’s because we’re working close to the ground and with the deeper connective tissues, not the muscles and superficial energy channels that are energized with dynamic asana styles.

7. Consider taking an evening class

Morning yoga classes are great for motivation and for setting a mindful mood for your day. But if you’re not able to carry this mindfulness throughout the day and stress accumulates to the point that you’re having a hard time going to sleep, you may want to do an evening practice instead. Or, at least do a short practice again before bed. Practicing at night is essential for me and I promise I’ll share my downtime routine in the near future.

8. End with restorative postures

Classically, Savasana (corpse pose) was practiced for at least 10 minutes at the end of a 90+ minute class and often Savasana punctuated many of the asana sequences in the middle of class as well. Today in our fast-paced (and therefore stressed-out) culture, yoga classes have been shortened to 60 minutes and Savasana is given a mere 3 minutes to explore.

Give yourself the full 10 minutes in Savasana if you need it. It’s okay to let the teacher know you’ll be starting to rest 15 minutes before the end of class. I would be thrilled if a student told me he/she valued rest and renewal that much, so I doubt you would offend the teacher.

9. Allow peace to come

You need to let the practice end and trust that you did enough. I often see at least one person in class trying to fit in inversions and other poses while we’re setting up to rest. Their minds are still telling them that there’s more to do, more to fix. Savasana is where peace emerges and you must be still and quiet to see it. The body and heart have a wisdom that the mind doesn’t understand and they will integrate everything you did in your practice. Trust that, and peace will be your experience.

Yoga is a personal practice. Sometimes we forget when we are in a group setting that we are in control of our experience. I hope that the information here helps you to overcome unhelpful habits in your Yoga practice and that you have a deeper experience in general! Please let me know how it works for you, in the comments!

Autumn, Meditation, Natural Remedies, Seasons, yin yoga, Yoga, yoga video

Autumn Self-care with 5 Daily Rituals

Can you feel the energetic pull as we descend into Autumn? The yang energy of the sun has been decreasing since the summer solstice in June. It continues to go down as we traverse Autumn and slide toward the Winter solstice. Yin energy therefore becomes greater and we feel the need to slow down, to stay inside more, to reflect on the past, to appreciate what we have in our life now, and to honor the simple moments that make life so sweet. In Autumn, self-care should be a priority.

Prevent Imbalances With Autumn Self-Care According to Traditional Chinese Medicine

I LOVE this time of year and all that it usually brings up for me. But for some of us, this transition is not so pleasant. If we refuse to listen to the call of nature to adjust our lifestyle with the season, we are more prone to energetic disharmonies that then manifest as physical illness.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the Lung and Large Intestine organs are associated with Autumn and disharmonies tend to arise in these organs and the channels that flow through them when our Qi (vital energy) is depleted or stuck. This can result in a breakdown of immune function and make us more prone to infection.

A couple of my friends were already sick with pneumonia in September. And I’ve noticed with myself that unchecked stress can lead to a tight neck (around Large Intestine acupoints) and constipation. Lung and large intestine disharmony can also show up on the skin with conditions such as acne, rashes, or dryness.

Tonifying Lung qi and dispersing Large Intestine qi is something that we can all focus on this season. Here are 5 Autumn self-care rituals that help us address these imbalances.

Autumn Self-Care Rituals

1. Nadi Shodana breathing practice

The Large Intestine meridian runs bilaterally from the radial side of the index finger, along the lateral elbow crease, up to the top of the shoulder, along the side of the neck and crosses the face to end at the opposite nostril. This is one reason why keeping the nose clear is energetically important for staying healthy this season. Also, the lungs are intimately connected with the throat and nostrils since they are the entryway for breath in respiration.

Nadi Shodana is a wonderful way to keep the channel clear while also strengthening the lungs. It’s also a very calming breath practice and one I choose to do when my mind is racing and it’s too difficult to just meditate on the moment. So it’s a great preparation for meditation. Here’s a peaceful video to show you how, or keep reading below for my instructions.

Nadi Shodana is translated as “nadi cleansing”, with nadis being the energetic tributaries (synonymous with the meridians in TCM) that contain and mobilize Prana (vital energy in yoga, synonymous with Qi).

Instructions for Nadi Shodana

To begin, come into a comfortable seated position with your spine erect.

Allow your left hand to rest in your lap. With the right hand, lightly place the thumb on the right nostril and the ring and pinky fingers on the left nostril. The index and middle fingers can rest in between the eyes or you can tuck them into your hand.

Close the right nostril and exhale completely out the left.

The cycle starts with the next breath, inhaling through the left nostril. Close the left, open the right and exhale. Inhale through the right. Close the right and exhale through the left. That is the end of the cycle.

I try to do at least 10 cycles and then sit for a brief period of meditation.

2. Meditative Yin yoga

Yin Yoga is a fabulous way to indulge in Autumn self-care. We described the channel flow for the Large Intestine with Nadi Shodana breathing, above. The Lung meridian is the Yin partner to the Yang Large Intestine. The Lung channel runs bilaterally from the lung to the inner side of the upper arm, through the elbow crease, along the radius of the forearm, ending at the outer edge of the thumb nail.

Whenever we mindfully bear weight on the arms or stretch the chest and arms, we are mobilizing Prana/Qi and blood through the Lung & Large Intestine meridians.

Try holding the shapes below for 2-5 minutes with slow, deep breaths. With each inhalation, imagine that you’re dilating the meridians and nourishing each cell in the whole body. With the exhalation we are letting go of tension, stress, old ideas/habits, and anything that does not serve our wellbeing and that of others.

From upper left corner clockwise: Seated Meditation, Quarter Dog, Supine Twist, Twisted Child’s Pose.

3. Eat Autumn fruits and vegetables

Acupuncture and herbs can resolve just about any disharmony, but only in conjunction with a balanced diet. Most of us should be eating larger portions of organic vegetables and some fruits, preferably grown on a local farm.

In TCM, we also consider the character and taste of the food to balance our systems. Dryness in any form (dry skin, a dry cough, dry intestines, etc.) is common in Autumn, and once again related to an imbalance of Lung/Large Intestine energy. The following vegetables and fruits are in season now (or soon) and benefit the lungs and large intestine by adding moisture and clearing heat & dryness (from Maoshing Ni’s The Tao of Nutrition):

Apple
Beet
Bok choy
Cabbage
Daikon radish
Orange
Pear
Persimmon
Pumpkin (all winter squash)
Spinach

4. Move your bowels every morning

What? Not an easy suggestion for you? TCM has mapped out the hours of the day where Qi moving through the organs and meridians is most plentiful. For the Large Intestine, the hours are 5-7am. If you are hydrated, if you are eating a balanced diet, if you are going to bed before 10pm and rising with the sun, and if you are emotionally and energetically balanced, then you will typically have a bowel movement at this time of the day.

Here are some other suggestions to help regulate your bowels:

Massage your abdomen in the evening, then again in the morning if your bowel movement is not timely. Massaging the sacrum in a downward movement can also encourage bowel movements. Try this acupressure sequence to relieve constipation.
Use essential oils such as tangerine and doTERRA’s DigestZen in a carrier oil for the abdominal and sacral massage. Using castor oil as the carrier has a much stronger action on the bowels (use caution when pregnant).
Practice forward bends, gentle twists, and stretch/massage to let go of any shoulder and neck tension at night before bed (which will help with your sleep too!)
Supplement with probiotics and eat fermented foods (yogurt, sauerkraut, pickles, etc.)
Drink a large glass of water upon waking and meditate, focusing your energy down. (Do not start the morning with reading potentially stressful emails or going onto social media – a habit that I’m trying to break too!)

5. Light outdoor exercise

Of course getting outdoor exercise is a good suggestion for anytime of the year. But it is especially important as the days get shorter to help prevent Seasonal Affective Disorders. If you are prone to seasonal depression, any amount of sunlight can help pull you up and out. And stimulating Lung Qi with brisk walks, cycling, kayaking on a lake or anything where you can exercise and also appreciate nature can help you deal with feelings of grief and regret that often come up this time of year.

I need to emphasize that the exercise should be light. Overdoing it will lead to exhaustion of your Qi & fluids.

Hopefully you can adopt at least a few of these practices to help you with Autumn self-care. If you’d like more advice, here is an article I wrote in my old yogic parenting blog on Communing with Nature that might help you appreciate outside time from a TCM perspective. And while I’m at it, here’s an old piece on Autumn Reflection that can help as well.