Human beings have evolved from cave dwellers, hunting and gathering their food for survival, to modern men living a sedentary life, where everything we need is just a click away on our phones. Yet, even with all the infrastructure and amenities, we are all anxious about several things in life. It can be worried about family disputes, economic instability, emotional traumas, and even staying competent in the profession and society. These have left us in a continuous state of arousal or stress response. The hypothalamus perceives the stress stimulus, which communicates with the master and adrenal glands, activating the autonomic nervous system's sympathetic nervous system. This stimulates the release of catecholamines which leads to flight and fight response. Learn All About Yoga And Anxiety By Dr Narendra Shetty, Chief Wellness Consultant, Kshemavana.
State Of Anxiety
Increased breath and pulse are associated with heightened body temperature and perspiration. All of these physical responses prepare the body to face danger. If the scenario becomes unbearable, there might be a feeling of lightheadedness and nausea. Also, there can be a mortifying effect on physical and mental health if the state of anxiety continues. You can relate to similar situations where you experienced the fright, fight and flight response. You might have felt your heartbeat and breathing becoming rapid. Throughout the body, the skeletal muscle contracts, and the body becomes ready for action. It takes 1 to 30 minutes for the body to reach the pre-arousal state.
Day-To-Day Stressors
In the modern lifestyle, an individual is continuously aroused by day-to-day stressors. As a result, the body is flushed with stress hormones such as cortisol, which prepares the body for action. But there is no action phase where an individual responds. So, all the time, the body is in a state of sympathetic arousal. As a result, the body continues to function at a higher pressure, becoming the new normal pressure.
Anxiety And Yoga
Yoga is an ancient spiritual and scientific technique of breath work, body movements, hand gestures and postures combined with moral principles and ethical conduct that educates an individual's body, mind and soul, helping them evolve psycho-spiritually. Yoga helps inculcate the right attitudes by developing yogic philosophies in every aspect of life, giving clarity of mind. It emphasizes being compassionate towards your fellow being as well as towards yourself. The Bhagavad Gita explains yoga as 'samatvam yoga uchyate', which means equanimity or an equanimous state of being in yoga. One of the leading causes of anxiety is an imbalance in the autonomic nervous system.
Mindful Practices And Anxiety
The mindful practices stimulate the vagal tone, which activates the parasympathetic system leading to an enhanced state of the relaxation response. In addition, the techniques help desensitize and strengthen us physically, mentally and emotionally, thereby reducing the perceived stress and reactivity of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis responsible for the stress response.