Relaxation response

When you are feeling stressed and tense, it is hard to accomplish anything and you are usually just in a bad mood. Yoga exercises and meditation are two great ways to relieve stress and reach a feeling of calmness. Release your stress with the yoga meditation relaxation response.

Yoga asanas or exercises combined with meditation give your body a natural relaxation response that fights stress. The asanas release tension in the body and meditation releases turbulence in the mind and emotions. In addition to that, practicing yoga will also increase your happiness and serenity, both of which will make you feel better in the long run.

It is impossible to avoid all stress but you are able to help yourself avoid the negative effects by learning how to activate the relaxation response. During a stress response your body is filled with chemicals that prepare you for "fight or flight" which is helpful during an emergency, but it is bad when it is active over a long period of time.

The relaxation response gets your system back into balance by: reducing stress hormones, relaxing your muscles, deepening your breathing, and slowing your heart rate and blood pressure. It also increases your energy and focus, relieves aches and pains, boosts motivation and productivity, and combats illness.

When practicing yoga, you gain the body, mind and emotions come into harmony. When this happens you have an incredible sense of well being. Just like when you feel stressed and tense your day doesn't go well, when you start out with well being, everything in your day seems to go really well.

Another way to reduce your stress is with meditation. When people think of meditation they picture Buddhist monks who sit with their legs crossed in silence trying to achieve inner peace. This is essentially what you are supposed to do, but you do not have to cross your legs unless you want to. Sitting in silence and focusing your mind on a meditation object is a great way to clam the mind and emotions and activate the relaxation response.

When you feel tense, it is because your bodies stress levels are increasing. While this is good in an emergency situation, it is not good for your daily life. In order to lower your stress levels you need to activate your relaxation response, and the best way to do that is by doing yoga exercises and meditation.