Evoked R-States with Progressive Muscle Relaxation (Pmr) and Yoga Stretching

Relaxation is a technique often used by sports performers to calm themselves-thereby decreasing anxiety and controlling arousal. It can increase the sense of control, reduce anxiety, and help the performer to feel calm and comfortable. Involves a decrease in: - breathing rate - heart rate - muscle activity - oxygen consumption. One of the most powerful tools a psychologist can use is actually nothing new, said Herbert Benson, MD, at APA's Annual Convention. In fact, it's an approach that's been around for millennia, yet its full potential remains untapped. Benson was referring to the relaxation response, a physical state of deep rest that changes a person's physical and emotional responses to stress. It is important to use relaxation techniques to decrease the physical and mental symptoms of nervousness, and alternative to motivational methods to not over arouse the athlete. In addition, relaxation is important for improving performance to control arousal, allow athletes to reproduce in competition what has been learnt during training, increase the athletes concentration, mentally prepares the athlete, and allows the athlete to remain calm in stressful situations.

Bessel van der Kolk (2014) in his groundbreaking book, “The Body Keeps the Score,” explores how trauma memories are stored nonverbally in the physical body and brain. He recommends yoga as one pathway to release that somatic memory and re-establish equilibrium. Many of the benefits of art therapy are also associated with yoga. They are both experience-based, guided by intention, promote self-awareness, encourage a state of flow, activate the limbic brain, reduce stress, encourage observation rather than judgement, are adaptive, and encourage change and healing (Gibbons, 2015). Yoga stretches can be incorporated into art therapy sessions to address the large muscle movements associated with the ETC kinesthetic component and to reduce tension. Yoga can also induce a state of body-based present-moment awareness and sensory calm.

While the research of Blumenthal et al. (2007) focused on exercise being effective in reducing self-reported depressive symptoms, Diaz and Motta (2008) and Motta, Kuligowski, and Marino (2010) looked at the positive effects of exercise on depression, anxiety and PTSD. The theory of exercise’s positive effect on mental health has heavily been focused on

Of the many techniques people use to reduce stress, yoga is among one of the more popular. Although some may believe that effects of yoga are merely physical, there is research that suggests that yoga has direct impacts on one’s mental state. According to Forbes, in addition to the benefits on the heart and blood flow, yoga helps release dopamine and gaba and serotonin (Walton, 2012). All of these are known to create feeling of happiness in a person (K. W. Brown, personal communication, Sept. 7). For this lab, I decided I would try yoga for myself to test the results.

A total of twenty-one people were selected. An effective computer-generated randomization list was then used for the intake process to assign qualifying participants to each group: the control group and the group doing Sudarshan Kriya yoga, observed over seven days. Varying factors among groups, such as combat exposure, age, education, and ethnicity were similar and seemingly even spread throughout.

Since 1990s, many scientists agree that exercise has positive impacts on people’s physical health and mental health (SIME WE, 1987). From Morgan and O’Connor’s research, people can reduce stress and state anxiety by doing physical activities; also gain emotional pleasure from the process (Morgan and O’Connor, 1988). Later in 1997, Landers states that physical activities can reduce people depression after weeks of regular and routine exercise. In addition, people can benefit from more

399). Investigations on the chronic effects of exercise have involved programs which last approximately 2-4 months consisting of two to four sessions per week. Most research on effects of acute exercise has focused on the reduction of state anxiety. Recent studies, (Focht & Hausenblas, 2001; Ekkekakis, Hall & Petruzzello, 1999) showed that aerobic exercise resulted in lowered state anxiety and higher tranquility scores. In addition to this, other research has revealed that moderate-intensity exercise produced the greatest positive effects in affective responses implying that the anxiety reduction following exercise occurs regardless of the intensity, duration or type of exercise (Berger, Pargman & Weinberg, 2002, pp. 399-401). Raglin and Morgan (1987) found that state anxiety was reduced for 24 hours after the exercise bout, whereas participants in a control rest condition returned to baseline levels within 30 minutes (Berger, Pargman & Weinberg, 2002, pp. 400). Although acute exercise is no more effective in decreasing state anxiety than quiet rest of distraction, the effects last longer. According to Breus and O’Connor (1998), the decrease in state anxiety after exercise lasted several hours, which was more than in the distraction and quiet rest groups. This implies that positive effects may be gained after a few weeks of training, but enduring effects may only be achieved through continuous exercise.

Exercise is a way of life for many whether it’s for fun, to get fit, or just a time consumer. However, a common way many use of exercise is to release built up stress. Not only is it beneficial to a person’s health, but it is also an easy way to grasp a clear mindset. The only downfall of this option is the fact that some get caught up and can’t get enough of the benefits exercise grants them. Exercise addiction tends to distress a range of emotions when a person is unable to exercise. M.K.S., author of Recognizing Exercises Addiction, has discovered that “there is ample evidence that exercise has mood-altering effects” (M.K.S. 1). Without exercising, a person may feel angry, guilty, or anxious. These feelings may also occur when a compulsive exerciser experiences a disruption in his or her exercise routine. Exercise addiction sometimes accompanies obsessive behaviors surrounding the issues of food and weight, as some

Conversely, I practiced this Relaxation Response for two weeks on March 6 through March 19 from 7:00 am to 7:20 am every morning. However, I turned off everything in the house, including my phone until there was complete silence. Then, I lay down on my exercise mat, cleared my mind of all of the stress and the stressors that are going on in my life, and I become comfortable to the point I relaxed. Afterwards, I begin to focus on the word one silently. As I repeated the word in my mind, the more I stayed focused on the word one, and the more relaxed I become and felt at ease. Therefore, I did not have difficulties working my way up to 20 minutes. Furthermore, this relaxation response make my body feel so relaxed I continued to practice

Cardiovascular disease is a global burden and by changing risk factors such as increasing physical activity and reducing stress by relaxation can lower the incidence of the disease (Hartley, Dyakova, Holmes, Clarke, Lee, Ernst, & Rees, 2014) The study had 800 participants with high risk factors of the cardiovascular disease and were recruited to 11 study trials. After eight months of this ongoing study, Hartley and Colleagues (2014) found that any form of yoga showed reduction in the systolic and diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, and an increase in high-density lipoprotein. Since patients with the cardiovascular disease are unable to perform rigorous exercises, yoga was concluded to be an ideal choice for them. Participants, who

For some reasons, especially the beginners, are having hard time to relax due to many factors. This is one of the major objectives of meditative programs and trainings.

Relaxation has never been easy, but it has been proven to occur when one’s mental processes and muscles have been relaxed. It is a very safe method and can be practiced through many different techniques. It has remained side by side to help with areas of therapy and has been very beneficial to countless of people worldwide.

In today’s environment, many people are suffering with the stress and anxiety of day to day living and are finding themselves unable to cope with life’s little emergencies. Prescription drugs are on the rise due to the increasing need for people to deal with their stress and anxiety. However, many people are searching for ways to be less stressed and live a happy and healthy life without drugs. If stress and anxiety are getting the best of you, then think about grabbing a mat and giving yoga and meditation a spin. With that in mind, this paper will take a look at the benefits of yoga and meditation to create a more peaceful and healthy lifestyle.

In Satin, Jillian R., et al., "Yoga and Psychophysiological Determinants of Cardiovascular Health: Comparing Yoga Practitioners, Runners, and Sedentary Individuals", this cross-sectional study examined the cardiovascular health markers in long-term practitioners of yoga (yogis), runners, and sedentary individuals. The researchers compared physiological, psychological, and lifestyle variables associated with cardiovascular health across groups. Results showed that Yogis and runners showed favorable profiles compared to sedentary individuals on heart rate, heart rate variability, depression, perceived stress, and cigarette smoking. Runners and male yogis showed superior aerobic fitness compared to the sedentary group. Yogis demonstrated a lower respiration rate compared to sedentary individuals and were more likely to refrain from eating meat compared to other groups. Yogis and runners demonstrated several cardiovascular health advantages over sedentary individuals.

My yoga journey started more than ten years ago with an intense and dedicated interest in learning yoga postures from Ashtanga, Hatha, Jivamukti, etc. In the beginning I practised most days of the week and imagined that I would never tire, in spite of long trips to the studio in the early hours of the morning. A pleasant reward was that my blood pressure dropped back to normal and I could stop taking medicines. So, from the start, I knew that yoga could provide health benefits as well as an enormous feeling of wellbeing. No matter how tired and fed-up one felt at the beginning of a session, the mental lift afterwards was deeply satisfying. Meditation, Savasana, or corpse posture, wound up every session so it also became clear that postures or asanas were only part of the remedy. Meditation and yoga practise from the very beginning fired my interest in searching for an inner consciousness. This is an easily misunderstood word and means many different things to many different people. Some will associate it with awareness, or mindfulness