Pranayama for stress

Here I put together many of the posts that I wrote while practising Pranayama on a daily basis, also adding a chapter of my new eBook.

A chapter from my new eBook" Pranayama, Mudra, Mantra and Meditation for health and well-being"

Pranayama for Stress

You all at some stage in your lives become stressed out, and many of you suffer from chronic stress. Often you are not even aware that you are stressed, you may ignore the symptoms and causes.

To become aware if you are stressed or not you need to understand and distinguish from normal stress and chronic stress. When you get yourselves into an acute stress situation, due to an accident or something you witnessed it is a normal way of your body to maybe react in a certain way. But then when the situation is over you should come back into balance. And you should no longer be affected by the situation.

But when you are chronically stressed, your body and mind are responding to the overload. And the stress is ongoing and can result in physical and mental, emotional ailments.

External causes of stress;

Major life changes, like moving home or even moving to another country. Getting married or having a child. When your lifestyle changes in some form or way.

Work and any kind of stressful work situation. 

School, exams, stress with other students or with teachers etc.

Relationship difficulties

Loss of a family member.

The family, children, teenagers can all be a stress factor in your life.

Or just being too busy, everything is getting on top of you, too many things to take care of, and too many responsibilities.

Financial worries and stresses. This is often a very major one for many people.

Illness in the family

Internal causes;

Chronic worry, being negative all the time, being a pessimist.

Rigid thinking, lack of flexibility. Critical, Perfectionist.

Negative self-talk, insecurities and self-doubt.

Fears and anxieties.

Grief, chronic grief.

You all respond to stress differently and you all cope with stress differently. Some of you may even thrive on a bit of stress, like being under pressure. But it is important to become more aware when the stress is becoming too much.

If you continue to ignore stress and allow yourselves to stay under permanent pressure it can become a very unhealthy situation. You can become physically ill from stress.

Some of the physical symptoms you may experience if you have continuous stress in your life;

Headaches, muscle tension

Fatigue

Digestive troubles, stomach aches

Sleeplessness.

You may experience a lot of;

Anxieties

Fears

Guilt

Lack of motivation

Irritability and Anger

Depression.

You may end up;

Not eating, skipping meals.

Or overeating to make you feel better or to get energy

You may start to drink, overuse of coffee and alcohol, or get into drugs to keep going

You may withdraw from society

And you may lack motivation altogether.

There are many Pranayama that can help you with stress. But you may say; "You are too busy to practice any Pranayama".

Well, if you know that your life is stressful for whatever reason, stop and take a  breath, always remember to breathe, bring the focus back to the breath even just for a minute. No matter how busy you are you should never forget to breathe and make a conscious effort to stop and take a few deep breaths. Just slowing down your breathing every so often during the day, can help tremendously with reducing stress. And also come back into your heart centre.

Practising the Anuloma - Viloma or alternating nostril breathing, in the evening, before going to bed or even while laying on your back in bed with a straight spine, you can practise a few rounds of alternating nostril breathing, this can help calm and balance the body and mind by reducing stress and helps with a good night sleep





Below some of my older post that I wrote while beginning with my daily practice of Pranayama


19.04.2015
Pranayama for Stress relief;

About a couple of month ago my life became quite stressful and I also get badly influenced by the energies of eclipse and as I knew we were soon to have a solar and lunar eclipse my energy became very stressed. I looked through all my pranayama books to see if I could practice pranayama to help me with my stress levels which started to push up my blood pressure. I found the eight-stroke breath pranayama for stress, that I have been practising since the beginning of March this year. The pranayama goes; Sit with spine straight, inhale in equal strokes for eight strokes, exhale forcefully in one stroke the inhale and exhale is done through the nose. The mudra is thumb tip touches the index finger tip. This pranayama should be practised for 11 minutes and in the evening. To finish off the pranayama inhale, roll the shoulders as many time possible with breath held in, then exhale, then inhale hold the breath and roll the shoulders as fast as possible then exhale.
This pranayama really works, it is so good to do this in the evening and it helps to calm that busy mind and by the morning one feels calm and energised to begin the day. And these hard knots around the neck and shoulders ease off and eventually dissolve.
The external stresses, of course, are there but with this pranayama, one can get through the day without elevated blood pressure or unnecessary worries and anxieties. To me, it is wonderful pranayama and I love practising it as I become more focused on keeping my awareness with my breath. I think to me this is one of the most potent pranayamas to relief stress. I keep doing it as it makes me feel so good.
To get real benefit this pranayama should be practised for 40 days in a row. But the stress relief is almost instant. Anyone can benefit from this pranayama, who does not suffer from stress from time to time?
Keep it up pranayama does work.

17.09.2011 Making changes and letting go

Pranayama helps with making the necessary change to move forward. It is amazing how with practising Pranayama the awareness is so great that it helps with understanding what the lesson is to learn in each challenge. I have been facing some of my hardest challenges at the moment and it has been a lifelong long struggle. I have done many therapies to overcome these struggles and challenges and I do well for a while and then the challenge is hitting me again. Since practising Pranayama I have been working through smaller challenges step by step and knew one day I would have to deal with my biggest challenge and I would have no escape from it than to face it head-on. Over the past year this challenge has been building up and I watched it coming. I tried to do anything to get rid of it and to change direction, but I could not. I am standing in front of my biggest fear, biggest worry, biggest burden and I know it here for me to work through it. Over the past 5 days while practising Pranayama the awareness I have gained from practising Pranayama it has shown me in details how these fears, worries, burdens, have been manifesting over years and even lifetimes. I can see while I am doing the Pranayama that it is feeling like I am pulling out deep roots of my biggest fears, worries and burdens. It feels like I can identify what has been the creator of such deep-seated fears, worries and burdens, and I can work and transform these fears, worries, burdens into healing, letting go, detach, into positive thoughts and I am learning to surrender which gives such a deep sense of calm and relief. Pranayama is helping me to really letting go, to let go from every cell, atom in my body, to transform every instant negative thought into positive, slowly I feel I am winning the positive thoughts are starting to push the negative thoughts out of the way even in the midst of facing my biggest fear, worries and burden. I feel like my own resistance is breaking down, I am able to break through my own resistance, my own blocks, restrictions and limitations. It is all slowly breaking away. It feels like I am winning, thanks to Pranayama.


9.09.2011 Focus and living in the now

Since practising pranayama I have become more aware of all the energies around me and within me. I have felt the pressure of needing to heal faster, to grow spiritually faster, around me people are talking about preparing yourself for the future for the year 2012 and the changes it will bring. I myself get caught up in all this, and my body feels as if it is trying to hold me back. And then every time I practice my pranayama, my energy is slowing down, my mind is slowing down, the pressure to heal fast disappears, the pressure to grow spiritually disappears. My body relaxes and I am focused on my breathing. The focus is on the now on what each breath is doing for my body, mind, soul, heart, spirit. And I realise there is no time limit in my healing process, there is no time limit in my spiritual journey, there is no fear of death or if I have to come back for much more lifetimes to complete the journey, there is nothing but the now. It feels calm and I know each breath I take is healing me it is helping me with my spiritual growth, but most of all it helps me to enjoy and to feel the MOMENT the HERE and NOW. It makes me realise how much more important the here and now is then the future. It makes me realise that it does not matter how fast I heal or grow, what matters is how I feel right now in each moment and with Pranayama it brings me back to the moment, it helps me to be focused on my inner being, in my heart space, on living each moment with depth, with awareness of joy, with love. The future will come quick enough, but the moment you miss will be gone forever. Don't waste your here and now don't waste each precious moment on the future, on trying to be there before you have lived the now.
We are so much living in the fast line, we are so much living in competition, there is even so much competition with spiritual journeys, the race is on who will get there first, who will be enlightened, who will be the most spiritual person who will be one with God first.
I may be last in line but filled with the richness that each moment each precious moment is giving me while living fully in the here and now. With Pranayama I feel I can slow down time, I can fully take in what each moment brings I can soak in the beauty, the love, the smells, the breath, the wind the whole energy and experience it fully. Why waste time on what the future may bring, when you can not fully experience the here and now, you may miss the future.

5.07.2011 Internal silence

I have learned the Pranayama Nadi-sadhana through the book Pranayama Rahasya ( with scientific factual evidence ) Swami Ramdev, and I have found this Pranayama most effective in calming my ever so overactive mind. While I am practising this pranayama it seems to block out any intrusive thoughts and it is stopping my mind from wondering. It is very effective. I have found the more traditional way of practising the Pranayamas like the once that Swami Ramdev teaches the most effective ones. Many teachers will add their own style to the pranayamas and what suits one, may not suit another. Like with all things we put our own style on things.  Traditional things become improved, adjusted, refine, only to in time to go back to the traditional way or the original way. So I have been studying these books of Swami Ramdev and watch the YouTube videos and have found when I follow his instructions I get the best result. The Pranayama Nadi - sadhana showed me how amazing it is when one is able to control the breath, and that there can be an immediate benefit. It feels like it goes very deep and I have felt that I become internally silent a very amazing feeling.

24.05.2011 Pranayama and the mind

Since practising Pranayama, now nine months, I would have to say that my absolute biggest challenge in my mind. It is just incredible how strong thoughts are and how hard it is to let go of negative thoughts, negative thought patterns, distraction, pictures in your mind. The mind creates worries anxieties and negativity. When I work on being positive negativity just pops in, when practising Pranayama I work on getting rid of all the negativity, and the words the pictures the thoughts, it seems endless what is coming out and needs to be dispensed of. Kapalabhati helps in getting rid of negativity, negative behaviour patterns, negative thought patterns, but sometimes I feel my mind is just so determined to keep me in a negative mood. It is unbelievable how strong the mind is. The mind soaks in outside influences, from the radio, TV, from people around me from things I have experienced, things I read, and it seems as if it only wants to store the negativity. Pranayama helps with changing that negative mind to a positive mind. What is happening now for me is that I am aware instantly when a negative thought, word, picture enters my mind and I can change it straight away into a positive thought, picture or word. Since practising Pranayama, pranayama has given me such a deep awareness and has helped me to go deep into myself. It has helped me to draw out all the negativity that is deep within me from my childhood, from my past, may even from my past lives. There is still more coming out, but now I can stop the negativity from going in. The awareness helps me to change the negative into positive before it enters my being. I still have a long way to go, but it is so healing to know I can let it all go now I need no longer to hold on to my demons, my negativity, my hurt, my grief. Pranayama is simply amazing. Sometimes it's so much hard work and I think why am I doing this, but then I realise I have come so far already I will not give up on it. The other day a friend of mine said that she did not think I would ever give up practising Pranayama as I have been doing it now for nine months and it is just so much part of my life. I believe, it takes about three months of disciplining yourself to practice Pranayama, after that it just becomes part of your life and daily routine.

3.05.11
Stress relief

It has just been an amazing experience for me; Major stress just did not throw me down this time around. I have felt so much calm it has been amazing in the past these major stresses would just get me down and make me angry and frustrated and this time around I feel calm, just the occasional feeling how do I deal with this now, but then solutions come and everybody around me is understanding, allowing me to be late with my payments without charging penalties or late payment fees, things are just able to be sorted. I have become creative in making things last longer, I have been more creative in making things myself and finding solutions for everything. This has made me positive and I am quite excited about trying out new ways finding solutions and solving problems. The challenges have become fun and I feel on top of the world in the middle of great turmoil. Since practising Pranayama, life, in general, has just become easier, things to deal with have become easier, people around me have become more helpful, due to my calmer nature. I truly feel like a new person. Pranayama is just amazing.

Pranayama diffuses stress 30.04.2011

We are living in a stressful world and it is the story of my life that I have always stressed due to finance. I have chosen to live a lifestyle different to many people, self-employed and always choosing an occupation which is hard to make a living from. I have times where things just go smoothly and great and suddenly things turn to mud and get really difficult. I stress about finance to the max. I often felt I could not move as moving costs money. Since practising Pranayama, I have been able to relax more about finance, even so, I still have days I stress, it seems to get easier as more I practice Pranayama. I find solutions I never been able to find before. I am able to live in the moment more, then worry about next weeks bills and payments. It feels now that slowly but surely I am getting on top of things. Finding ways to cut back costs, realising,   I  do not need so much, realising one can be happy with less, realising that becoming more in tune with the rhythm of nature allows me to find better solutions, understanding myself better finding my strength and weaknesses, helps me in sorting my ongoing financial issues. Often when practising Pranayama I get distracted by my thoughts about my stresses, but then automatically I focus back on my breathing. I realise I can not force change it comes automatically. When practising Pranayama the focus comes naturally, the changes come naturally letting go and surrendering comes naturally in time at the right time. The healing is a transition that takes time but practising Pranayama makes it easier, my aggressive nature is calming down and I feel I can cope with life better each day. We will always have challenges but with Pranayama these challenges are easier to work with.

10.04.2011
Pranayama brings about awareness

Practising Pranayama brings about an awareness that helps understand one's emotions, thoughts, behaviour patterns, mood swings, anger, frustrations and depression. Since practising Pranayama, I have become aware of all my mood swings, negative thoughts my negative behaviour patterns, and my lows and highs. What I have found is that the negative thoughts and the negative behaviour patterns are fighting with me they try to block my healing process and they try to intrude when I practice my Pranayamas. The awareness helps me to identify this and helps me to work through these struggles. I have found that every time I sit down to do my Pranayamas despite my negative moods or anger and frustration, I calm down and can put things in perspective with every out breath I can work on letting go of negativity, old negative behaviour patterns, old hurts, negative thoughts and emotions. It is not an instant cure, but with the awareness that Pranayama has given me I have been able to come through the lows and the negativity much quicker. It is hard to let go of old hurts, grief, anger frustrations that have been part of my life since a young age, the behaviour pattern one has created over the years, it's as if all these negatives have a hold on me and show up out of the blue. With Pranayama I feel I have been able to work through so much already, it has given me the strength to change, and to let go. Pranayama is not an instant cure like when taking a pill, but it works on a deep level, changing me from the root of my being. It seems to bring a lasting change.

1.03.2011
Pranayama to calm the mind

Pranayama calms the mind and heals the emotions. Since practising Pranayama I have become much calmer and have been able to deal with stress much better. Practising Pranayama brings about an awareness of emotions that need to be healed and it helps to deal with these emotions and to bring about a calm and focused mind.
Pranayama, breathing, helps deal with any kinds of stress it helps deal with natural disasters better and helps to focus on the moment rather than dwelling on what has been and what will be.
My thoughts are with all my friends and all the people in Christchurch. Pranayama helps to get through each day.
Breath deeply in any situation. Stop what you are doing and take a deep breath to see what it feels like! Can you feel your lungs expanding?

Walk the journey, your path in peace

This is all about my personal experiences copyrights@BarbaraSchaer all rights reserved