Most people experience stress and anxiety from time to time. And while we are in the middle of a pandemic, we are bound to be stressed and feel anxious by thinking about the future or even live in isolation and not being able to meet your loved ones. It might get difficult but this too shall pass. Yoga has become a popular method of stress relief and exercise among all age groups lately. Research has found that yoga can enhance mood and can even be as effective as antidepressant drugs at treating depression and anxiety. These exercises do not require much expertise and can be done from the comfort of your home. Mudit Dandwate, Co-founder, Dozee shares how you can balance your emotions through basic yoga techniques.

• AnulomVilom – AnulomVilom is the breathing in and breathing out of the alternate nostrils. It helps to balance the energies flowing through the nostril resulting in elimination of toxins and radicals and also helps restore balance between the two hemispheres of the brain. It also heals the nervous system and brings about peace, tranquility and calm while strengthening the mind and complete relaxation of the body. It also helps relieve depression, overcome negative thoughts and pushes you to feel more positive while also improving one’s patience, focus and concentration.

• Yoga nidra – Also known as yogic sleep and has been proved to be useful in more ways than one. It is the state of consciousness between waking up and falling asleep. It is the “going to sleep” stage and it is ordinarily coaxed by guided meditation. A 20-minutes session of yoga nidra is equivalent to 1 hour of sound sleep. Yoga nidra counteracts stress, long standing anxiety and also depression. It refreshes the mind, making it more relaxed and rejuvenated for other activities. It induces complete mental, physical and emotional relaxation.

• Pranayama – Pranayama means working in the dimension of prana that is the vital energy needed by our physical and subtle layers, without which the body would perish. A pranayama thus helps increase your energy levels. Since it stimulates energy levels, it also expands your aura and leads to expanding your spirits to higher levels. While it makes one energetic and enthusiastic, it also makes them calm and composed, thus leading one to make better decisions, having better mental strength when dealing with catastrophes in life.

• Surya Namaskar – Salute to the sun is an asana incorporating 12 gracefully strength oriented asanas. The namaskar starts with a standing position while making way through the other asanas to reach an upward dog position and finally ending back at the standing position. Surya namaskar is known to be a great ancient yoga exercise. It is best advised to do suryanamaskar early morning on an empty stomach. It also helps stimulate the nervous system as a whole alongside making the body flexible. It has been known to be an excellent exercise for enhancing cognitive parts of the brain while also relaxing the mind and decreasing stress, depression, and anxiety.

• Bhramari – Bhramari is also often known as humming bee breathing is a calming breathing process that involves producing a bee like sound from the back of your throat while practising the exercise. It helps you concentrate only on your breathing thus improving focus, calming the mind. It also alleviates healing of bodily tissues and induces sound sleep. It is best advised to practice Bhramari to improve focus or shift focus from anxiety inducing thoughts.

These exercises stimulate relaxation and rejuvenation of the body by getting rid of stress as it sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax. It also detoxifies the body, improves immunity and helps maintain emotional balance.