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We all know what it is like to feel stressed. Our speedy, high-pressured lives mean that we are often constantly on the go and overstimulated, and sometimes we don’t give our bodies or our minds the necessary down-time for rest and relaxation. This means that our stress response (fight-or-flight mode) is more regularly activated and sometimes it becomes our default state.

Feelings of stress can therefore accumulate and become excessive, meaning that we often feel overwhelmed and unable to cope. Feelings of anxiety can arise in response to the stress and we can have difficulty finding a sense of balance and calm. And, when we are affected by stress for a long period of time, it can have a significant impact on our physical and mental wellbeing.

The good news is that yoga can help to take us into a more calm and relaxed state through connecting us with our bodies, our breathing and our minds. It creates the conditions for the body’s relaxation response to kick in by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system (rest-and-digest mode). This acts as a ‘dimmer switch’ and turns down the fight-or-flight response, slowing the heart rate, lowering blood pressure and diverting blood supply towards other bodily functions such as the digestive, reproductive and immune systems.