Why Yoga for Stress Relief?

Life can be stressful. For starters, there's your busy schedule — waking up super early for school, studying late at night for tests, juggling sports practice, homework, and meals. It's a lot to balance!

Everyday issues can add emotional stress, too — counseling a friend through a breakup, regretting a disagreement with a parent, weighing an important decision, or stressing over whether you'll make final cuts for the varsity team. With lots on your mind, it's easy to feel stressed.

There are many different ways to cope with stress. Talking with friends, exercising, and seeing a school counselor are just a few. Yoga can help reduce stress because it promotes relaxation, which is the natural opposite of stress. Yoga can benefit three aspects of ourselves that are often affected by stress: our body, mind, and breathing.

You don't have to wait to feel stressed out to do yoga, and you shouldn't! People who do a little bit of yoga each day often find they're better able to handle things when life gets a little crazy. Practicing yoga builds your ability to calm, focus, balance, and relax yourself.