Yoga is beneficial for the body, no matter how many days a week you can squeeze it in. If there’s a local yoga studio or gym that offers yoga classes, you may not have the time to attend a one-hour class each day of the week – and that’s okay. Even if you can do yoga once a week, it can make a difference.
Meditation and stress-reduction techniques have been proven to treat depression and anxiety. A national survey showed that only 7.5 percent of adults have tried yoga, yet it has been proven as one of the top ways to meditate and relieve stress, thereby dealing with depression and anxiety at the same time.
A recent study by the Harvard School of Medicine showed that yoga is able to modulate stress responses. It reduces the heart rate, eases respiration, and lowers your blood pressure. (1) Over time, practicing yoga can help your body to deal with stress more effectively. Yoga can improve your mood – and there have been a number of studies to show it. Some of the studies concentrated on as little as two 90-minute yoga sessions a week.
You don’t have to spend every waking hour in a yoga position. However, you do have to make at least some time for it. There are various forms of yoga and when you don’t have a lot of time and you need to try and reduce your stress response, anusara yoga is a great form for you to focus on. You don’t have to worry about obtaining the “perfect” position. Instead, you get into the pose to the best of your ability.
Anusara yoga is ideal for mood enhancement and you can come to classes in whatever fitness shape you are currently in. It’s considered less intense than some of the other forms of yoga, which is why there are so many people practicing it.
A Sample Yoga Routine
A sample anusara yoga routine begins with breathing techniques. You will sit with your legs crossed in front of you and take a deep cleansing breath. You will continue to do this several times. From there, you can move into Downward Facing Dog. In Downward Dog, you stand with your feet spread about 8 inches apart and then bend to place your hands down in front of you. Your body is forming an upside down “V” and you let your head hang in a relaxed manner between your arms.
There are various instructions for anusara yoga and you can spend as little or as much time working on the positions when you have time in the day. You may want to stop after 15 minutes or go for as long as 90 minutes. The idea is to be able to take deep cleaning breaths and learn how to inhale deeper. This allows you to find an inner calmness, which will also help you to deal with incoming stressors.
When you have a few minutes in your busy day, spend some time in the corner of your office, your home, or anywhere else that is quiet so you can relax and get into position. You deserve to have some way to free yourself of stress and this is a great way.
You will soon see that you don’t need to practice yoga daily. Even one day a week can make all the difference in the world. Before you know it, you’ll be able to deal with the stress in your day to day life more effectively.
[1] http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Mental_Health_Letter/2009/April/Yoga-for-anxiety-and-depression
