Fight holiday stress with Om's - yoga: 'a prescription for wellness'
Discover your inner pharmacy through yoga and boost your immune system
"Stress, fear and anxiety are some of the emotions that are compromising our immune system," said
An 85 year-old yoga teacher and Vedanta scholar with a Doctorate in Complementary Medicine,
"During the flight or flight (i.e. stress) response, our immune system goes down and doesn't protect the body," said
Through yoga, one can suspend the mental chatter and reprogram the immune system to restore that optimal threshold of healing capacity.
"The brain is like a computer system being short circuited by stress and the fact that it is overloaded by today's hectic life-style," said
"Through the yoga postures - we improve the system of communication and restore the brain-body connection for optimal healing."
The body is capable of producing its own endorphins, tranquilizers and anti-depressants that are more powerful and have no side effects. With this complete pharmacy within, we need only trust our bodies to deal with any demand, even the stress of in-laws visiting for an entire week!
The wear and tear of stress has detrimental effects in the short term of the holidays but also in the long run.
"The key is to teach your body to trigger the relaxation response," said
Dr Bali teaches people how to manage stress consciously and set this relaxation response in motion so the body can heal itself.
"I like how I feel after the workout - refreshed and strengthened physically and calmer in my spirit," said one participant. "I appreciate the fact that I can do the exercises at my own level, and that we have guidance for adaptations" to limitations of movement, especially after surgery.
Yoga Bliss Studio offers drop in courses Mondays at
For further information: Dr. Madan Bali, PhD, Yoga researcher and instructor, (514) 932-7971 (main), (514) 808-YOGA (media requests), [email protected]; www.yogabliss.ca
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