Calm Your Nerves With Yoga
Calm Your Nerves with Yoga By Devinder Kaur
When we face a stressful situation (or a life-threatening one), a surge of hormones prepares us to fight or flee. Our heart rate goes up, our muscles tense, and we are on alert. This is a natural survival mechanism called “the stress response.” Depending on our circumstances, we might activate the fight or flight response many times during a day. Traffic, loud noises, work deadlines, frustrating thoughts, and other concerns bring on the stress response and activate the sympathetic nervous system. The repeated surge of hormones takes its toll on the body and, over time, this low-grade chronic stress leads to high blood pressure, increased heart rate, and muscle tension. If your sympathetic nervous system repeatedly springs into action, there will be an imbalance.
The relaxation response is meant to counter the stress response and the effects of stress. Blood flow is redirected to the digestive and reproductive organs, and to the endocrine...









