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Stress
challenges, obstacles, deadlines, papers, tests, athletic events, performances,
family problems, and tragic events are only a few of the situations that can
instigate stress. Even joyous events like holidays, weddings and new additions
to a family can also exacerbate stress. Natural disasters, world conflicts,
tragedies, and stories of suffering and heartbreak, even those occurring on the
other side of the world, can have wide-ranging impacts, affecting people’s
mental health.

One of the ways in which we respond to stress is through our fight-or-flight
response. This is a combination of the activation of our sympathetic nervous
system and specific hormonal pathways which result in the release of cortisol
from the adrenal glands. Cortisol is one of our primary stress hormones, and is
often used to measure the stress response.

Stress in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Immediate, or acute stress, can
often be motivating, as it can be activating. We hear stories of people being able
to accomplish physical feats in emergency circumstances because cortisol
increases blood pressure, heart rate, and blood sugar, as well as increasing
mental focus. Because the stress response increases mental focus, it can often
help us meet a deadline or finish a project. But too much stress, or constant
stress with no respite for the body and mind, can interfere with numerous
physical and mental abilities.

On a long-term basis, chronic stress can be damaging. Stress hormones
including cortisol decrease the responsiveness of our immune system. They
also increase blood sugar levels as well as blood pressure and heart rate,
helpful in a crisis, but not for long-term health and wellbeing. This is where how
we respond to stress can have a significant impact.

Yoga and Stress
The practice of Yoga is well-demonstrated to reduce the physical effects of
stress on the body, and has even been found to lower cortisol levels. This effect
is noticeable, and it is one of the primary reasons why people often take up
Yoga. People find that they feel more relaxed after practicing Yoga. The asana,
or physical postures of Yoga, are helpful for reducing muscular tension, which
reduces stress. We have a tendency to store stress not only in our nervous
system, but distributed throughout the musculature and other tissues of the
body; our digestive system, for example, responds very quickly to stress. Yoga
can be a valuable and effective tool for releasing this stored stress. This can be
true even for post-traumatic stress and recovering from the after-effects of
traumatic events.

Yoga includes not only the asana or physical postures, but most Yoga classes
end with savasana, or a pose of relaxation. Some classes include a guided
relaxation where the teacher leads students through a progressive relaxation of
the body, which further reduces the experience of stress.

Yoga also includes meditation and breathing practices (pranayama) as well as a
set of ethical precepts and observances (yamas and niyamas). Meditation, the
ethical precepts and observances, focused relaxation techniques, and working
with the breath all have beneficial stress-reducing qualities, through improving
our relationships with the various aspects of our inner nature as well as
affecting our psychology and physical body.

Yoga, the Breath and Stress
Working with the breath can be a particularly effective method for treating a
negative response to stress. When we are experiencing stress, our breathing
tends to become shallow and rapid. Shallow and rapid breath further stimulates
the body’s stress response, and we can become caught up in an ineffective
breathing pattern that only causes more stress. Many yoga techniques
emphasize slowing and deepening the breath, which activates the body’s
parasympathetic system, or relaxation response. Just by changing our pattern of
breathing, we can significantly affect our body’s experience of and response to
stress. This may be one of the most profound lessons from yoga practice.

Selected Research Investigating Yoga and Stress
Studies of Yoga have demonstrated that Yoga practice has the ability to reduce
stress. As mentioned earlier, Yoga can reduce cortisol levels, a finding which
was documented in the October 2004 issue of the journal, Annals of Behavioral
Science. In the June 2004 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychology,
researchers found that caregivers for people with dementia (a very challenging
condition) improved physical and emotional functioning after practicing Yoga.
February and August 2005 studies published in the Journal of Alternative and
Complementary Medicine analyzed the breathing techniques of a specific Yoga
practice, Sudardhan Yoga Kriya, which the authors maintain reduce stress,
including post-traumatic stress disorder.

Another Yoga-based program that has been widely studied in the use of stress
reduction is the mindfulness-based stress reduction program (MBSR), which is
taught, studied and popularized by Jon Kabat-Zinn and the Center for
Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare and Society at the University of
Massachusetts Medical School. The mindfulness-based stress reduction
program includes guided instruction in mindfulness meditation practices, yoga
and gentle stretching, inquiry exercises to enhance awareness, individual
instruction, group dialogue and home assignments.

The effectiveness of the MBSR has been studied in a variety of different
scientific studies both at the University of Massachusetts as well as other
medical centers around the world. Results that they have reported on their
website which are still in the process