It is well accepted that yoga is a great tool for countering stress. Yoga helps calm the mind body down and de-stress it. But how does it work? To understand this we need to know what Biofeedback is.
Biofeedback
Biofeedback is a technique that is used to train people with conditions such as high blood pressure, headache, migraine, chronic pain, and urinary inconsistence. Biofeedback is generally used to control bodily processes that are not normally in our voluntary control. Electrodes are attached to our skin to measure heart rate, brain waves, skin temperature, skin moisture, stress in muscles, etc., The information collected by the various instruments is processed and displayed to the patient as a signal, usually on a monitor. This signal usually represents the stress levels of a patient. The patient is asked to mentally work towards moving the signal in a particular direction that indicates lowering of stress level. Biofeedback allows the patient to understand her current stress levels and figure out what thoughts and actions increase it and what lower it, allowing her to voluntarily control her stress levels. When this happens blood pressure reduces, muscles relax and chronic pain subsides.
Biofeedback shows that it is possible to voluntarily reduce stress levels by countering its effects.
Impact Of Stress On Us
Here is what stress does to us:
1. It makes our muscles tense.
2. It shortens our breath making it shallow and quick.
3. It puts our mind in a tizzy of circular thoughts of worry and anxiety.
This means that if we counter each of these effects of stress, we should be able to trigger a response from our body that de-stresses it.
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