Charles River Editors

The Illustrated Step-By-Step Guide to Yoga for Stress Relief Charles River Editors

*Includes over 40 different postures and yogic practices are accompanied with photographs of the proper poses and explanations to make sure you're practicing yoga correctly.
*Explains proper breathing techniques for dealing with stress
The unrelenting ticking of the clock just minutes before a tight deadline. The bumper-to-bumper traffic that prevents us from reaching home after a long day of work. The sound of a crying infant in the early morning that makes us wonder if parenthood is really all it's cracked up to be.
What unifies each of these situations is stress. Stress is a term used to describe a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances. Stress is something that all people experience, with varying levels of stress being placed on our minds and bodies at any given time. The factors that cause stress are numerous: work, diet, relationships, body image, examinations, deadlines, assignments, peer pressure, lack of sleep, family, depression, breakups, etc. Whatever the cause, stress is an inevitable component of daily life. The trick to coping with stress is learning how to manage, prevent, and reduce it when necessary.
People often search for ways to reduce stress, but one often overlooked method of dealing with stress is yoga. Yoga, a Sanskrit word, is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline that originated from ancient India. A philosophy based on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, yoga aims for the attainment of spiritual insight and mental peace. Literally, the word yoga means "to join." In one sense, this means unifying the mind and body so that both are in perfect harmony. As the philosophy goes, if the body is in a healthy state, then the mind can be in a healthy state. Similarly, a healthy mind can allow for a healthier body.
Given its goals and practice, it's no surprise that yoga has become such a popular practice for reducing stress. It accomplishes this through breathing, mild to moderate exercise, and heightened connectedness to the self through conscious awareness and meditative techniques.
The Illustrated Step-By-Step Guide to Yoga for Stress Relief can help people of all ages and backgrounds manage and reduce their stress, and it is designed for all experience levels, whether you are a beginner or a frequent practitioner of yoga. Over 40 different postures and yogic practices are accompanied with photographs of the proper poses and explanations to make sure you're practicing yoga correctly.
Let this guide help you reduce and manage your stress today.
Contents: Chapter 1: Why Yoga for Stress Relief?
Chapter 2: Beginning the Yoga Session
Chapter 3: Coming into Standing Position
Chapter 4: Joint and Back Relaxation
Chapter 5: Modified Sun Salutation
Chapter 6: Relaxing Standing Postures
Chapter 7: Sitting Postures
Chapter 8: Relaxation and Concentration Postures
Chapter 9: Supine Postures