Many of us today are under stress all the time, but we still need to stay in control. If this continues, we often respond to stress with bad eating habits, production of more stress hormones, and by manifesting cardiac risk factors. Nevertheless, there is a way to limit these risk factors and even turn them around without resorting to medication. All it takes is the development of some new habits that will work in partnership with your usual diet and exercise program.

Yoga can help you regain the state you want your mind and body to be in. It will help you relax.

Yoga is one of the most well-known forms of meditative exercise within the rising movement of mind-body health. Other forms include qigong, tai chi, and various practices of meditation. Mind-body fitness comes from Eastern philosophies and religions and can enhance both your emotional and physical health.

Mind-body exercise has many benefits, which are showing themselves to be authentic even under scientific study. Indeed, mind-body exercise can accomplish a number of things, such as lowering your risk of heart disease and boosting your mood.

Yoga’s kind, gentle movements are easy on the joints and yet still improve strength and flexibility, as well as muscle tone. In fact, it can make you more youthful than the sometimes jarring effects of aerobics, weight lifting, or running.

Practicing yoga can affect the entirety of your lifestyle. Today, many Westerners concentrate on the physical asanas, or positions, of yoga. But some employ yoga as a pathway to delight and enjoy their lives in its inclusive hold.

Yoga has lofty goals indeed, but in fact practicing it is wonderfully simple and you can do it anywhere, anytime. If you take yoga to its extremes, you can utilize yoga’s dietary practices and moral codes as well as its meditative practices. More commonly, though, it’s utilized as a combination of asanas (or postures), meditation and breathing exercises, also called pranayama.

Authors have written entire books on how to breathe during yoga. When you deep breathe, you calm yourself, but you also energize yourself at the same time. You can feel very energized from a few minutes of careful deep breathing, but it’s a different kind of energy than many of us are used to feeling. Not jittery or hyper, this type of energy is calm and steady.

If you’re feeling particularly stressed, try this five-minute “breath break” to energize yourself and release stress. Read through the instructions several times before you actually try following the steps.

1. With your spine as straight as possible, sit in a chair or on the floor. If you sit in a chair, your feet should be flat on the floor with knees directly over the center of your feet. If your feet don’t rest comfortably on the floor, put a book or cushion under your feet so that your knees are perpendicular to your hips. Your hands should be on the tops of your legs, palms down, open and relaxed.

2. Close your eyes gently and simply rest them, lids closed.

3. Picture your ribs at the back, front and sides of your body. Your lungs reside behind your ribs.

4. Slowly breathe in, filling up your lungs from the bottom. Visualize your ribs expanding out and up. Now, slowly breathe out, with your lungs emptying from top to bottom and your ribs gently contracting back down and in. Don’t push the breath out.

5. At first, repeat this exercise for two or three minutes. As you become more experienced, do it for 5 or 10 minutes. When you start out, set aside some time each day for this exercise. As you become more familiar with it and appreciate how much better you feel, you’ll want to practice it several times throughout your day.

If you practice yoga at home, it’s a good idea to use yoga DVDs to make sure you’re using proper form and technique. Be sure to choose one that’s suited to your level of flexibility and fitness, and also meets your requirements for long term health. If you’re a beginner, look for a video that features simple yoga poses.

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