This weeks post is a continuation to last weeks, HeartFelt Abundance.
It’s easy for me to say “let go of stress and be in the moment” Stress is a fact of life! We all have it, even us yoga instructors. One of my uncles recently said that to me “I figured since you did yoga, you wouldn’t have any stress”. Yoga is amazing, but it doesn’t work miracles!
If you have attended a yoga class, you may have heard the instructor repeatedly remind you to breathe. Breathing is something we do all day, every day and most of the time, we are unaware that we are even doing it. When we are practicing yoga, we are take time to observe the flow of the breath. We may also practice different ways of controlling that breath. The sanskrit word for these breathing practices is Pranayama.
Below, you will find a list of the eight limbs of yoga. Aparigraha, that we discussed in last weeks post, is one of the Yama’s, which is the fist limb or step. As you can see, Pranayama is listed at #4 and asana, or the physical practice we focus on here in the western world, is only #3. Which means breath is more important than asana. This is why we yoga instructors ask you to focus on your breath so often.
Yama : Universal morality
Niyama : Personal observances
Asanas : Body postures
Pranayama : Breathing exercises, and control of prana
Pratyahara : Control of the senses
Dharana : Concentration and cultivating inner perceptual awareness
Dhyana : Devotion, Meditation on the Divine
Samadhi : Union with the Divine
Because our topic today is stress, I’m going to focus in on our autonomic nervous system. On one side we have our sympathetic nervous system. This regulates the bodies response to stress, such as our raising our heart rate, our blood pressure, our sweat secretion-basically preparing our bodies to run away if the stress gets to be too much. The other side of the nervous system is the parasympathetic nervous system. This does the opposite-slows down the heart rate and lowers the blood pressure- preparing the body for rest and digest. When our day to day life is full of stress- maybe we have family pressures, we have a demanding job and now we throw Christmas on top of that, our sympathetic nervous system is running over time. Unless we are taking time to slow down, go to yoga or meditate- the parasympathetic nervous system has a had time regulating the body. When this happens our heart will be racing all the time, our blood pressure will be high, maybe we will struggle with insomnia and perhaps we feel run down.
Don’t worry, I’m getting back to the breath!
The best breathing technique for moving the autonomic nervous system from the sympathetic to the parasympathetic, is with an extended exhalation. We want to try to get our exhale to twice as long as our inhale. There are studies that show, that this pranayama exercise, has a pretty quick affect on our nervous system. One of the best things about pranayama, we can do these exercises anywhere. If you are heading to the mall and you notice that your body is feeling stress before, during or after. Maybe, before you head out, you take a few minutes to do this 2:1 breath (exhale twice as long as inhale) or maybe you head to your car and do the same. Some people may feel an immediate calm come over them. Others, especially if you are feeling very overwhelmed, might not notice the benefits right away. That doesn’t mean you aren’t receiving the benefits! The more you practice it, the easier it will be to feel the benefits in those moments that we really need it.
So, what was my answer to my uncle, when he suggested that I shouldn’t be feeling stress? I said that of course I feel stress, but I have tools and techniques that help me not hold on to that stress. I can take a couple of long, deep breaths and I will feel my body start to relax. I feel in control in those moments. I know I have control over the stress in my body.
If you really want to relax and put these theories into practice, I highly recommend Miranda’s Restoration and Meditation class. We offer this class twice a week, Wednesday at 9:30 am and Thursday at 5:30 pm. I consider myself a restorative yoga connoisseur and Miranda’s classes is probably the best restorative classes I have attended and I’m not just saying that cause she works for me!
Until next week stay warm and take those long exhalations!