One in four people experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives. These disorders can be accompanied by panic attacks. Living with anxiety and panic attacks is difficult, but there are lots of techniques that can help to ease the symptoms. Yoga is one of the ways to reduce anxiety.
If you suffer from anxiety and panic disorder, you may want to try one of our free classes that happen at Pip Yoga every month. Get in touch with us at info@pipyoga.com to get more info.
Here are some of the ways yoga can help with anxiety.
Yoga forces you to focus on breathing.
When you have an anxiety attack, you take short and shallow breaths. This is what makes panic attacks worse, because breathing like this makes you feel lightheaded and faint. The most important part of yoga is focusing on the breath. When you feel a bit tired or are finding a pose difficult, focusing on breathing slowly and deeply will make all the difference.
Following the breathing during yoga class is a really useful skill that can be applied to other areas of your life. Whenever you feel anxious or stressed, remember to take a slow breath until you feel more relaxed.
Exercise releases endorphins.
Yoga gives you endorphins like other forms of exercise. Endorphins improve your mood and reduce the symptoms of depression, as well as relieving stress and anxiety. Endorphins are an all-natural antidepressant. The flexibility and strength that you will also gain from yoga can help to prevent injuries and reduce chronic pain.
Yoga eases muscle tension.
When we get anxious or stressed, certain areas of our body tighten even though we don't realise it. Chronic stress and anxiety can lead to pain and muscle tension in your back, head, neck, shoulders and other areas. Yoga helps to ease this muscle tension by strengthening, lengthening and relaxing sore muscles. Over time with more yoga practice, your posture will improve which also aids the easing of muscle tension.
Yoga is a great challenge.
Yoga is a challenge. Even if you're the most experienced yogi, there will still be certain poses that you find tough. Engaging in something that you find challenging - and seeing it through even when it's hard - will give you more confidence and faith in yourself.
Anxiety makes you feel uncomfortable. But using yoga, you can learn to accept the discomfort. You've survived the feeling of being uncomfortably anxious before, and you will get through it again. Accept the discomfort instead of trying to fight it. Breathe.
Yoga classes can help you make friends.
When you suffer from anxiety, you often feel like no one else understands. This leads to the feeling of isolation and loneliness. Yoga classes are the perfect way to meet new people and develop a sense of community. During the resting poses, try to find more inner peace and strength within yourself or a higher power. Putting that faith in something greater than yourself can be really helpful when you're trying to cope with anxiety.
Yoga truly is a really effective way of reducing anxiety and stress. If you haven't tried yoga to alleviate symptoms before, we highly encourage you to give it a go!