| It is important to understand that Yoga manages to | | | | Indian Yoga. Coincidentally, all of these Yogic aspects |
| lower stress levels - not eliminate them. Stress is a | | | | can be refined separately, or in combination with |
| very natural survival process, because manageable | | | | each other, to make life less painful and less stressful. |
| stress motivates us to improve our lives. If | | | | After Yoga students experience the bliss of being |
| humankind never felt stress, we might still be very | | | | able to reduce their stress levels, at will, they learn to |
| content painting on the walls of caves. | | | | appreciate life's ups and downs. It is hard for anyone |
| Parents want to take all of the stress from their | | | | to appreciate a challenge if they are overwhelmed by |
| children's lives. While this is a noble cause, children also | | | | it. |
| need a little stress to prosper in life. Parents should | | | | Some people have reached a state, so full of |
| be responsive, compassionate, and take the time to | | | | anxiety, that they have lost touch with reality. Life |
| give constructive guidance, but it should be realized | | | | can be so full of pain, panic, and anxiety, that it |
| that children become successful when they learn to | | | | seems as if all hope is lost. Immediate solutions are |
| overcome their challenges. | | | | needed - including a consultation with a counselor, |
| How would any of us be able to test our personal | | | | family physician, or a therapist. |
| limitations without stress? If everything was handed | | | | In this case, the student or client should also learn |
| to us, without any effort on our part, we would not | | | | Yogic stress management techniques as soon as |
| be self-sufficient. We would be no different from a | | | | possible. Yoga teachers must teach students to |
| spoiled child, who receives an allowance for doing | | | | experience a state of tranquility, before discussing |
| nothing. | | | | the reality of a life with controlled or reduced stress. |
| Therefore, in regard to stress, the goal of Yoga is to | | | | If a man is dying of thirst in a hot, dry desert, it is |
| reduce it to a manageable level. High levels of stress | | | | extremely hard to convince him that he will find clean |
| can cause head, back, and stomach aches, anxiety, | | | | water over the next hill. The proof comes to him |
| trembling, vomiting, panic attacks, fainting, and worse. | | | | when he drinks the water and feels his body cool |
| Yoga teachers are equipped with many techniques to | | | | off. With that said, students must actually experience |
| alleviate stress. Pranayama, mantra, japa, asana, | | | | happiness, tranquility, and bliss, in our Yoga classes, |
| meditation, mudra, proper diet, and relaxation, are | | | | for them to gain the insight of managing their stress |
| useful aspects of the nine traditional branches of | | | | levels. |