Each of us experiences stress and changing our perspective of it can be part of our daily practice and is part of my yoga teaching. Stress is subjective, and is a result of our perceptions. This rings especially true when I reflect on the five years I lived in Central America with Indigenous communities where people often had very little materially but were quite happy, grateful and generally less stressed then people I’ve met here in NZ who have more materially but are consistently stressed out. People respond differently to stress based on how we choose to see the world. In modern life stress is inevitable. However, if I have the understanding that stress isn’t the problem, but rather my perception of it, then my reaction to it may change. Instead of seeing it from a passive perspective, that stressful things always happen TO me, this perspective takes a more empowering perspective, that what’s important is how I CHOOSE to respond to stress. Through my personal daily practice and my yoga teaching I can to know my body and mind better and can recognise when I start to let stress get to me.
When I feel stress encroaching, I may integrate more pranayama and meditation into the practice to tackle stress. Yoga is obviously an essential too for ourselves and others in dealing with the stressors of modern life.