Stressed out? Just 20 minutes of deep breathing and meditation each day significantly improves your mood
11/03/2018 / By Ellaine Castillo
When life gets a little too stressful, it’s important to drop everything for a few minutes and just breathe. Otherwise, stress could progress into more complicated things like anxiety and depression. A study, published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine, reveals that Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya, a yogic practice involving controlled breathing, can effectively improve stress-induced disorders.
There’s no doubt that everyone has been stressed at one point in their lives. In fact, there are instances where stress is actually helpful since it could motivate a person, improve his concentration, or increase energy. It only becomes a problem when the body is getting too much of it. Under stress, the body undergoes many changes, including a release of stress hormones, elevated blood pressure, rapid breathing, increased heart rate, and inflammation. This is why constantly being under stress can cause a variety of problems.
Stress can cause mood disorders like anxiety and depression, which can be particularly crippling for the affected individuals. When left untreated, anxiety and depression can affect appetite, sleep habits, and social skills. Although there are prescription drugs for these disorders, they often cause unwanted side effects. This is why patients often prefer therapy, which is touted as the safer option.
Previous studies have shown that yoga and meditation practices have great potential as an alternative therapy for patients with anxiety and depression. People who practice yoga have been shown to have improved hormone regulation and reduced inflammation. Unfortunately, the world of yoga can be daunting for many beginners, given the vast number of practices which offer different benefits.
In the study, the researchers looked at how performing Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya can affect a person’s perceived stress levels and overall well-being. To note, Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya is an integrated yoga protocol that involves yogic breathing (pranayama) and meditation. The participants were asked to perform 21 minutes of Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya daily, for a period of six weeks. Surveys were conducted prior to the program and after the six week period to evaluate the effects of the practice on stress and well-being.
Results showed that practicing Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya can effectively reduce perceived stress and improve the general well-being of a person. This proves that Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya – like previously studied yoga protocols – has great potential as a therapy for stress and stress-induced disorders. (Related: Yoga: An Alternative Treatment for Depression.)
Other benefits of Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya
Aside from relieving stress, there are many other benefits that can be acquired from doing Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya. One of these is improved heart health. Previous studies have shown that people who practiced this form of yoga had improved autonomous heart functions and increased heart rate variability. Higher heart rate variability is preferred since this helps the heart adapt to stressful situations better. Meanwhile, people with lower heart rate variability have a higher risk of heart diseases like hypertension and coronary artery disease.
Doing Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya also improves a person’s brain functions. This was brought about by improved coordination and information exchange between the two brain hemispheres. Often times, the “logical” left hemisphere and the “intuitive” right hemisphere are separated and people are classified as one or the other. However, this is not the case when coherence between the two hemispheres is improved. Greater coherence allows a person to have higher IQ but also be good at creativity tests or exhibit great cognitive flexibility while showing emotional stability. In addition to this, people that practice Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya have improved attention and focus.
Women have more to get if they start practicing Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya since it has also been shown to reduce menstrual disorders. One study showed that practicing this for six months can lead to a 57 percent decrease in dysmenorrhea, a 72 percent decrease for mood swings, and a 50 percent decrease in weight gain. Additionally, menstrual flow and irregularity of the cycle were also improved.
Start practicing Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya today to experience all of these amazing health benefits.
Learn more about the effects of yoga on stress-induced disorders by visiting Mental.news today.
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Tagged Under: alternative therapy, Anxiety, calm, chronic stress, depression, Meditation, mental health, mind-body medicine, mood, mood disorder, pranayama, Shambhavi Mahamudra, stress, stress reduction, stress-induced disorder, therapy, Yoga, yogic breathing
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