Anxiety is one of the disorders that emerge with a crumbling of thoughts one-on-one and build a mountain of complications that you face. With this, you may experience irregular heartbeat, shivering, sweating, or abdominal distress. The majority of us are not aware of anxiety or feel ashamed of talking about this. If this is the reason, then you should not worry as this issue is not as big as seen. Anxiety is a common problem experienced when one feels nervous or worried regarding any task. Still, if you are very conscious about your anxiety then you can be the center of attention for others around you. Here, some might consider it normal and try to console you while some might make fun of this.
Now the biggest question arises, how to overcome it or control your anxiety? How to stop its symptoms and develop a healthy positive mind in every situation? Let me inform you that there are several techniques to overcome fear or anxiety such as medications, meditation, or even exercises of mindful thinking. Today's blog is all about yoga for anxiety disorder and how it helps you to control it. If you believe us and our experts then try on these yoga practices daily and see the magical wonders that take place in your daily life. You will build amazing self-control and in every difficult situation or phobia anxiety will not panic you ever. So, do not delay and continue till the end.
Yoga Poses for Anxiety Disorder
Reducing the feeling of anxiety and navigating towards positive thinking, yoga asanas will let you align your body, mind, and soul. Yoga will work to bring you back to happy, positive thoughts when you are turning negative. Moreover, a few breathing exercises will gently make you feel lighter and let you enjoy the present life you are living in. While practicing yoga, assure yourself relaxation and note the sensations that move around your body along with the emotions that arise inside. If in case, you get distracted with negative thoughts or overthinking, gently get back your mind on the yoga mat and start practicing again. Also, read further to know the best anxiety postures.
Child’s Pose
One of the easiest poses to perform while feeling anxiety is the child’s pose. It is also known as Balasana and has amazing effects on overall body.
How to perform it?
Simple steps you need to follow are:
- Kneel down on the yoga mat and sit on your heels with your hands on each side.
- Now, bend forward slowly on your stomach. Try to align your heels and buttocks but do not force if you feel excess pressure.
- Stretch your arms straight towards the front side of your palms and let them rest on the mat.
- Let your neck rest against the ground like your forehead touching the surface.
- Permit your body to relax and feel your breath. Stay for 2-3 minutes and then relax.
- Repeat the position after relaxing for 1 minute.
Benefits
- It promotes healthy breathing.
- Stretches your back, neck, hips, thighs, and ankles.
- Helpful in relieving back pain.
- Best for relaxing the mind and improving positivity.
Cat & Cow
In yoga terminology, cat and cow poses are known as marjaryasana and bitilasana respectively. If you start performing it daily it will boost the positivity inside you as it controls your whole body rhyming your breath.
How to perform it?
- Start by kneeling on the ground with your palms against the floor and your body bent forward.
- Now, turn your back in a hump position like a cat and chin down.
- Breathe in on this position and breathe out when you are in cow position.
- For the bow position, turn your spine concave shape, broaden your chest, and raise your head upwards.
- Repeat the movement 7-8 times, feeling the depth of your breath and raising positive thoughts.
Benefits
- Strengthening the spine by improving flexibility.
- Relieve back pain and sciatica.
- Improves focus and thoughts by energizing the body.
Downward Dog
Downward dog pose is also known as Adho Mukha Svanasana. Let me make you aware that this pose will help you to recover a healthy state of mind.
How to perform it?
- To perform this, come on your all fours, like a tabletop position.
- Now, raise your knees, and straighten your legs in such a way that your head can touch the ground.
- Also, you can clearly see the inverted V position of your body.
- Perform it daily, 5-7 times. Remember to breathe continuously while doing it.
Benefits
- It strengthens your upper body like your arms, back, and shoulders.
- It is helps improve blood circulation throughout the body.
- The blood flow to the brain relieves headaches, fogginess, and mild depression.
Pigeon Yoga
Improving flexibility and lowering the tension of hip pain, pigeon pose has numerous benefits for your health. In Sanskrit terms, the pigeon pose is also known as Kapotasana.
If you are interested in performing pigeon yoga, then you must know that it has different types. These are:
- Classic Pigeon Pose
- Resting Pigeon Pose
- King Pigeon Pose
It is advised to start with simple poses if you are a beginner and then turn to the complicated ones.
How to perform it?
- Make a tabletop position. If you are unaware, then the tabletop position is where you kneel down and rest your whole body on your palms and lower legs.
- Gently get into a pigeon pose. It is where your right knee comes outside of your right wrist.
- Now refine the shape. Here, if you face difficulty in balancing you can support your front or right buttock with the folded blanket or block.
- Keep your hips squared and make sure you do not feel any stretch in your right knee.
- Hold this position for about 5-10 deep and slow breaths.
This was the classic pigeon pose steps. If you get comfortable with doing this, try the resting pigeon pose with:
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After doing a classic pigeon pose, lie down with the upper body and touch your head to the ground. Here, you can keep your arms straight forward or fold under your head.
For King pigeon pose:
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Sit in the classic pigeon pose position, now bend your spine backwards and hold your left leg (straightened leg) with both your hands such as the foot sole touching your head. Again, hold for 5-10 breaths.
Benefits
It has numerous benefits such as:
- It is always seen that if you are anxious, stressed, or feared, then all these feelings put stress and react on the pelvic region of the body. This creates tight hips and yoga pose will ease it.
- Pigeon pose will release the stress and remove the undesirable energy from your body.
- It impacts physical health by opening the hip joint, stretching the thighs and other muscles, and extending the groin.
Knees To Chest
Also known as Apanasana in sanskrit, this pose is generally performed as second last or later in the yoga sequence. The significance of this pose is to help you move the toxins down and then out of the body.
How to perform it?
- Lying flat on a yoga mat.
- Now, raise your knees gently towards the chest.
- When you inhale move your legs away from the chest and bring them back to the chest when you exhale. Hold each position for 20-30 seconds.
- Perform it 2-3 times to release the tension from the lower back.
Benefits
- It will help you to combat the issues like anger, anxiety, or high blood pressure.
- Physical advantages to lower back pain and stretching the pelvic region to relax.
- It improves the breathing cycle as it involves the chest and lungs to exhale and inhale.
Corpse
It might be the best pose for you if relaxing is your favourite thing. This pose is also known as Shavasana.
How to perform it?
- This should be your last in the yoga sequence. Though it seems very easy to perform but a right position will help you to extract the best results from it.
- Lie on the yoga mat with hands straight on both sides such as your palms facing the sky or ceiling. The legs should be extended, pointing the feet outwards.
- Close your eyes and take deep breaths. Try to focus on your body giving peace from mind to toe.
- The aim to stay in this position is about 12-15 minutes or longer if desired.
Benefits
- The pose will ease anxiety by activating the nervous system. By performing this, the mind and body will calm down, promoting relaxation.
- It promotes the overall body’s energy by combating fatigue. Shavasana also releases muscle pain or tension.
- It also helps to improve sleep quality, letting you sleep quicker with peace.
Additional Tips
- Set a particular time and perform yoga on that time only everyday.
- Choose a comfortable place where you are separated from each direction.
- Always practice yoga on a light stomach as yoga after meals may bring issues to digestion and overall health.
- As a beginner, do not force your body to perform complex poses as you may hurt yourself. Any wrong pose can bring sprain, muscle pull, or nerve compression.
- Be consistent in your practice and try not to skip any day. A persistent approach will help you to control anxiety sooner and better.
Conclusion
Yoga asanas are a powerful weapon to overcome several diseases. In the case of mind, it is the best method to bring positivity and eradicate negative thoughts. This might make you confused, about how is it possible but if you have ever practiced yoga for mind relaxation then you already know it. You may think anxiety is a problematic situation that you can talk about. But, this is a wrong mindset, to overcome it you need to talk about it to your close ones or your experts atleast. Yoga, stands here as the best treatment as it works to align the body doshas and balance the energies of body, mind, and soul. It can be difficult for you in the beginning but slowly you will notice the healthy changes in your body. You can follow this blog and incorporate yoga into daily life, but it is always advisable not to compromise your current treatment and completely depend on it. Rather, consult the Ayurvedic experts of our hospital and know the detailed treatment to naturally control your anxiety. We promise you a healthy future if you follow our expert’s instructions.
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