Stressful work environments and harried schedules cause difficulty to many people trying to balance their busy lives. Those who have difficulty managing their personal and work lives in balance with each other are increasingly turning to yoga exercises. Yoga helps them achieve peace of mind and helps them reach that ideal work-life balance.
Interest in this traditional practice has been piqued by the mind-body connection, and studies reveal that it can lower stress levels and blood pressure, enhance on-the-job performance, and even slow the aging process.
Even though the focus of yoga might vary depending on the environment, its central premise is to relax your body and keep your mind alert and focused. For example, when you do yoga, you focus on body movement, breath, sound or even an object. If your thoughts turn to other things, as they probably will, just return your mind to your object of focus and continue on.
The age-old art of yoga gained new interest in the 60's as part of the consciousness raising activities of the period. But after this, yoga started to decline in popularity. This might be because yoga isn't quite the same as many other kinds of exercise.
For instance, to get all the benefits, patience is critical. The results are slow but steady. This contrasts starkly with the frenzied pace and fast results of aerobics.
Many people rush to work out every day during their lunch hours, force themselves to keep up a brisk pace, and then rush back to work. No doubt there are physical benefits, but nevertheless it increases the pressure of an already busy life. Yoga, by contrast, offers a less competitive and stressful way to work out, while supporting and even causing an overall feeling of simply "being."
One of the major reasons yoga is making a comeback is because it can be so healing as an activity. The intense focus on fitness created by workout routines such as weight lifting, running and aerobics has led to an increase in injury, particularly strained knees and back and neck pain.
Today, even health practitioners are getting in on yoga practice, with chiropractors, neurologists and orthopedic surgeons sometimes referring patients to specific yogis during treatment.
As a matter of fact, it's becoming more and more mainstream all the time. Hospitals and businesses are now teaching yoga techniques, books about yoga are bestsellers, and discussion groups on the Internet have sprung up to talk about this "new" innovation.
Interestingly, even the U.S. Army has demonstrated its interest in yoga. It has asked the National Academy of Sciences to study New Age techniques such as meditation to see if soldiers' performance can be enhanced in this way.
Also, yoga has become popular among those who weight train, run or do aerobics because of its stress reducing benefits.
Around 60 to 90 percent of visits to the doctor in the U.S. are tied to stress. Mind-body approaches offer cost-effective and safe treatments for this ailment that don't involve drugs or surgery. Among those who practice these techniques, 34 percent of infertile patients get pregnant within 6 months, and 70 percent of those who have sleep difficulties, including insomnia, get a good night's sleep on a regular basis. As well, a decrease of 36 percent is seen in the number of people suffering from pain and making regular visits to the doctor.
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