Yoga and Stress Management
In this class about managing stress with yoga, Baxter Bell, who is a medical doctor as well as a yoga teacher, talked a lot about what makes our bodies tense up in stressful situations. We learned about different kinds of stressors: external, internal, and percieved. We talked about the body's sympathetic and protosympathetic nervous systems and how they affect our bodies in times of stress. Of course, we talked about how we can use yoga to help manage the stressors that come into our lives. "After years and years of going and going and going, I finally learned to sit down with yoga," Baxter Bell said. You could've probably guessed all of this by reading the class description.
What really impacted me is the fact that every change is a stressor: including the changes that take place during yoga practice. I've long thought of yoga as a way of controlling my stress, but never of something that could actually add to the stiffness in my shoulders and neck. As if it was meant to be a way- too-realistic example of stress during practice, the girl in front of me kicked me square in the middle of my forehead (talk about stressors ... Ouch!)
When I recovered from that incident as gracefully as possible and continued to practice, I realized that when I'm having problems with stress I should individualized my asana practice to what my body needs. I realized that my neck and shoulders (where I hold my stress) felt a lot better when I look forward in Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II Pose) instead of over my middle finger. By tightening up too much in an effort to perfect a pose, I could be bringing more stress to by body that relief. This experience made me look at yoga for stress management in a completely new way.
Thanks Baxter, my shoulders really appreciate it!
Baxter Bell fell in love with yoga more than 10 years ago when he was a full-time family doctor. He began teaching yoga in 1999 and graduated from the Advanced Studies Program at Piedmont Yoga Studio in 2001. Baxter is a frequent contributor to Yoga Journal and is featured in Yoga Journal's video, Yoga Step-by-Step: Stress Management.