teaching yoga to balance emotionsBy Faye Martins

We know so much about how the brain works. We focus on our bodies and movement. The benefits of yoga to balance emotions are astounding. Yoga is a great way to enhance coping skills in adults and children. As a result, yoga helps our students improve their emotional health. Studies have shown that practicing yoga on a regular basis significantly decreases levels of anxiety and depression. Yoga also encourages mindfulness which leads students to a better understanding of themselves. Without mindfulness, stress can increase, which leads to emotional problems.

 

Where to Begin

What type of practical applications do we teach our students? Do we teach them to apply class lessons learned in the yoga class toward daily life? If the emotional balance is what our students seek, practicing yoga can enable balance to be within their reach. Approaching the practice of yoga, with an open mind, can make for a healthier, happier, and stress-free person. Here are some tips you can pass on to your students.

Let Yoga Balance Your Emotions

Learning, and performing the different yoga asanas, can change the way people feel about themselves, and also, has an effect on the way they feel about others and the world as a whole. While practicing postures, the deep breathing and stretching techniques release endorphins in the brain, which gives one the benefits of feeling good. The releasing of endorphins can provide for elevations in mood, alleviating pains, and cause greater reductions in stress and anxiety.

 

Calming Methods at the Beach

Frequently, we see people practicing yoga on the beach. Indeed, they are given the opportunity to enjoy the best of all worlds in the realm of relaxation. They performing an anxiety-relieving exercise of yoga, but they are also breathing in pure fresh air (full of prana) with some of nature’s most relaxing sounds from being near the ocean. Practicing yoga poses on the beach will also strengthen and relax the muscles that are not commonly used during the day. This is because the uneven surface of the sand forces different muscles to alternate their uses while trying to maintain balance through yoga postures and movements.

Healing and Reducing Anxiety Levels

The anxiety-reducing and healing benefits of yoga have the ability to put a pause on the effects of aging. The different stretches involved in the various yoga poses can create leaner and longer muscles, which can aid in muscle recovery and healthier immune systems. Hatha yoga practitioners should follow up their routines with healthy and clean diets, in order to reap the full amounts of health and strengthening benefits. Hydration is also a key factor in reaping benefits, as it adds cushioning to the joints, which helps to prevent the chances of incurring any injuries related to exercise.

 

States of Mind

Those who incorporate an array of yoga techniques, into their regular activities, will experience an increase in states of happiness and emotional balance; a vast amount of an increase in their physical and mental strengths and abilities will also be seen. Making time to practice yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises can be an excellent way for students to learn how to balance their emotions. This can help them deal with stress and anxiety as well as remain focused during classes. Breathing exercises like pranayama, especially ujjayi breathing, inhibit the nervous system and calm it down.

The Positive States of Mind

Yoga helps students to move through their emotions while finding self-acceptance. Teaching the benefits of these modalities is a great way to empower youth in dealing with their own emotional states. What many teachers are now discovering is the emotional health benefits it offers to the students who participate. When enthusiasm wanes in their students, they use yoga as a way to improve self-awareness and be more present at the moment. Working on postures, breathing exercises, and relaxation techniques enhance mindfulness skills which have been proven to reduce stress and help with depression symptoms.

 

Empowerment

As yoga teachers, it is important that we know the value of teaching poses to balance emotions. When people are experiencing negative emotions, their bodies react in different ways. Different poses can calm people and provide the stability needed for self-sufficiency. Poses can also invoke deeper meditation about what is making them unhappy so they can form a plan for an actionable solution or decide to not act at all. The benefits of yoga don’t stop there. It can reduce high blood pressure and improve sleep quality, two sources of unhappiness as well. We are always happy when we teach yoga to another person, something that we should do more often regardless of age.

Why Does it Work?

While it has long been known that Yoga can physically improve people’s health and well-being, recent research indicates that it can also help people to achieve emotional stability. It is theorized this is because yoga postures, breathing techniques, and meditation release endorphins. This means that Yoga practices could be used to complement traditional mental health. Treatments such as cognitive therapy and/or group therapy are often practiced alongside yoga and meditation.

 

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