| As a stressbuster, yoga is one of the most popular | | | | rehabilitation of criminal offenders.... Yoga techniques |
| forms of treatment. But maybe the word | | | | enhance well-being, mood, attention, mental focus, and |
| "stressbuster" is too strong to use. Practicing yoga | | | | stress tolerance." |
| doesn't necessarily "bust" stress away as much as it | | | | In a different study, done by the Department of |
| can help reduce it over time, in the process teaching | | | | Psychology and Center of Health Equity Studies at |
| the yoga enthusiast techniques to handle stress if it | | | | Sweden's Stockholm University, 26 women and seven |
| occurs again in the future. | | | | men who worked at a large corporation were split into |
| Yoga can be an effective way to handle stress in | | | | four groups and were treated with either cognitive |
| that, unlike pills or other medications, it doesn't create | | | | behavioral therapy or Kundaliniyoga for four months in |
| harmful side effects or bring with it the possibility of | | | | an effort to reduce stress. The study found that not |
| chemical dependence. Quite the contrary, yoga can | | | | only did the psychological and physiological levels of |
| help relieve you of your dependency on medical | | | | stress decrease, but there was no significant |
| treatments to help you to relax, instead teaching you | | | | difference in the amount of the reduction between the |
| how to tap into the natural elements that are inside of | | | | two groups. "The results," the study said, "indicate that |
| you to help you cope with the pressures of life without | | | | both cognitive behavior therapy and yoga are |
| relying on chemicals. | | | | promising stress management techniques." |
| To begin with, "stress" (in its most common use today) | | | | Thanks to studies like these, the medical world has |
| is a term developed in 1932 by scientist Hans Selye | | | | embraced many of the stress reduction and relaxation |
| and defined as "the non-specific response of the body | | | | techniques used for centuries in yoga. These |
| to any demand for change." Although many | | | | techniques include gentle physical movement, |
| researchers and scientists today refrain from defining | | | | stretching, controlled breathing techniques, meditation |
| stress, including those at the American Institute of | | | | and visualization. |
| Stress (because there can be good stress - such as | | | | All of these techniques, yoga practitioners are well |
| winning a football game - and bad stress - losing a | | | | aware of, help to bring together the mind, body and |
| football), they do agree that programs like yoga can | | | | spirit in a way that medication or medical treatments |
| aid in reducing bad stress. | | | | can never achieve. And by reducing stress, yoga also |
| The benefits of yoga as it relates to stress continues | | | | can help reduce or sometimes even eliminate the |
| to be investigated by scientists. In a study by the | | | | conditions associated with a number of other physical |
| Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in New | | | | aliments. Yoga has been known to lower blood |
| York, the effects of Sudarshan Kriya Yogic breathing | | | | pressure, relieve insomnia, reduce muscle tension, |
| on reducing stress was tested. Researchers found | | | | provide relief from allergies and asthma, aid in attempts |
| that "there is sufficient evidence to consider Sudarshan | | | | to quit smoking and help control overeating. |
| Kriya Yoga to be a beneficial, low-risk, low-cost | | | | Without the need for pills or expensive medical |
| adjunct to the treatment of stress, anxiety, | | | | treatments, yoga can help the body relax and make |
| post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, | | | | use of the natural healing that lies within. It may not be |
| stress-related medical illnesses, substance abuse, and | | | | a "stressbuster", but yoga can put stress in check. |