Yogasvis’ 21 Day Yoga for stress and anxiety

Namaste! Welcome to “Yogasvis’ 21 Day Yoga for stress and anxiety”. Here a bunch of simple tips and tricks to reduce stress in our lives. It is highly ironic how all of us are stressed about actually being stressed out in life!

The first step of embracing this journey of self-development is “self-awareness”. The fact that you have identified the problem and are willing to take a step towards it shows you are ready to embark upon this path. In today’s fast-paced world, stress and anxiety are part and parcel of life. They are the root cause of many health problems and chronic diseases. It has an adverse effect on both our minds and bodies.

Why and how is Yoga a solution?

Yoga is not just a series of exercise where you bend your body into unfathomable shapes. It is advocated not just as a form of physical exercise but as a way of life. It involves physical as well as mental cleansing. Stress and anxiety affect us both physically and mentally and yoga allows us to go to the root of the problem and eliminate it completely.

What do we need for this?

1. A Yoga Mat or a cloth which doesn’t slip on which to do your asanas. Doing it directly on the floor is not advised as the floor may take up your heat or energy as the floor is a layer to the core of the earth. 
2. A glass or copper bottle. Physical cleansing starts with drinking water regularly. It is extremely healthy to drink water in a glass, copper or brass vessel as such water is the cleanest and contains many essential minerals which we require. 
3. A healthy diet- eating food and vegetables and avoiding fatty or oily food as it slows down the heart and its capacity to take pressure. 

All yoga accessories are available on our website for sale! All our products are made from eco-friendly materials because we believe that along with purifying ourselves we should keep our surroundings clean as well. 

Tips to remember:

1. Do not do yoga before having a bath. It is advise to do it after having a bath
2. Choose open spaces with good ventilation
3. Don’t do it while directly under the sun, the best time to do yoga is early morning before sunrise or late evening after sunset. 
4. Do not do yoga after a meal.

Week 1:

This is the time to start slow. This week is simply about exploring and establishing your boundary or limit to which you can push yourself physically and mentally. It takes 21 days to form a habit, so this week is about setting the foundation for those good habits. 

          -Drink at least 2 litres of water per day: this is the initiation of the detox process so that you can start purifying your body. 

         -Reduce the intake of fatty and oily foods and start incorporating healthy green vegetables in your diet. These cool your body down and keep it fit to perform exercises. This is simply to prepare your body. 

         -Have at least one fruit a day. 

Exercises to be started this week:

Since you are only starting out; you can initiate with 20 minute yoga endeavour with a few asanas coupled with a few pranayama techniques and variations of meditation or dhyana.

1. First sit in the Sukhasana Pose. Breathe in and out a few times to gauge your breath and concentrate on it. 
2. Now stretch your legs out in front of you on the floor. This is getting you in position for the second exercise Paschimottanasana or two legged forward bend. Now breathe in, bend your upper body toward your legs and touch your forehead to your knees. Do this 3 times.
3. Now bring one leg towards you and place it touching the thigh of your already out-stretched other leg. This is bringing you in position for the third asana Janu Shirsasana or one-legged forward bend. On breathing in bend your upper body towards the floor and touch your forehead to the knee of the out-stretched leg. Do this asana 4 times (two times for each leg).
4. Now bring both your legs towards you and join them at the feet. This is preparing you for the Baddha Konasana or Butterfly pose. It is just fluttering your legs while keeping the feet adjoined. 
5. Now lie down on your back and hoist your legs up against the wall. This is the Viparita Karani or legs up against the wall pose. This is a way of relaxation. Pay attention to your breath.
6. Finally come down to Savasana position.

The last step of this routine does not fall in the chronological sequence but should be done before you go to bed. It is a variation of meditation. Keep a diya, sit in front of it with your eyes open and concentrate on the tip. Push out all thoughts negative or positions and concentrate on the tip of the flame of the diya. It is an exercise to familiarize you to the practice of meditation but not in a full-fledged way.

Week 2

Once you have gotten used to this particular regime for a week it is time to test the waters and push yourself a little. Now you may venture into the sea of standing asanas as well. Follow the dietary components of the previous week and continue the detox process. Make the time of doing this routine to be 30 minutes. 

 Follow the routine of week 1 till step 4. Double the number of times you were doing the initial counts to push yourself.

1. First sit in the Sukhasana Pose. Breathe in and out a few times to gauge your breath and concentrate on it. 
2. Now stretch your legs out in front of you on the floor. This is getting you in position for the second exercise Paschimottanasana or two legged forward bend. Now breathe in, bend your upper body toward your legs and touch your forehead to your knees. Do this 3 times. 
3. Now bring one leg towards you and place it touching the thigh of your already out-stretched other leg. This is bringing you in position for the third asana Janu Shirsasana or one-legged forward bend. On breathing in bend your upper body towards the floor and touch your forehead to the knee of the out-stretched leg. Do this asana 8 times (four times for each leg).
4. Now bring both your legs towards you and join them at the feet. This is preparing you for the Baddha Konasana or Butterfly pose. It is just fluttering your legs while keeping the feet adjoined. 
5. Now stand up straight with your feet in line with your shoulders. This takes us to the first of our standing asanas, the Hastapadasana or standing forward bend. Now slowly breathe in and bend your upper body and try to place your hands on the floor and touch your head to your knees. Do this 3 times. 
6. Now stretch your legs a little bit beyond the shoulders and keep the arms outstretched beside you. This is preparing you for the Utthita Trikonasana or the extended triangle pose. Bend your upper body to one side and place your palms on the floor while keeping the other arm stretched above you and look at it.  Do it 4 times (two on each side). 
7. Now lie down on your back and hoist your legs up against the wall. This is the Viparita Karani or legs up against the wall pose. This is a way of relaxation. Pay attention to your breath.
8. Finally come down to Savasana position.

This last step of the routine does not fall into the chronological sequence just like the previous week  but should be done before you go to bed. It is a variation of meditation. However this week you should remove the diya, sit with your eyes closed and imagine the diya in your mind and concentrate on the tip of the flame there. Push out all thoughts negative or positions and concentrate on the tip of the flame of diya. This allows you to embark on a form of dhyana.

Week 3:

This last week is the most crucial of all the weeks. It would ensure the formation of the 21 day habit and make it easier for you to make it a part of your routine. Following all the steps and making it a complete one hour workout. An hour you can easily give for your mental pace and stability.

1. 1. First sit in the Sukhasana Pose. Breathe in and out a few times to gauge your breath and concentrate on it. 
   2. Now stretch your legs out in front of you on the floor. This is getting you in position for the second exercise Paschimottanasana or two legged forward bend. Now breathe in, bend your upper body toward your legs and touch your forehead to your knees. Do this 3 times. 
   3. Now bring one leg towards you and place it touching the thigh of your already out-stretched other leg. This is bringing you in position for the third asana Janu Shirsasana or one-legged forward bend. On breathing in bend your upper body towards the floor and touch your forehead to the knee of the out-stretched leg. Do this asana 8 times (four times for each leg).
   4. Now bring both your legs towards you and join them at the feet. This is preparing you for the Baddha Konasana or Butterfly pose. It is just fluttering your legs while keeping the feet adjoined. 
   5. Now stand up straight with your feet in line with your shoulders. This takes us to the first of our standing asanas, the Hastapadasana or standing forward bend. Now slowly breathe in and bend your upper body and try to place your hands on the floor and touch your head to your knees. Do this 3 times. 
   6. Now stretch your legs a little bit beyond the shoulders and keep the arms outstretched beside you. This is preparing you for the Utthita Trikonasana or the extended triangle pose. Bend your upper body to one side and place your palms on the floor while keeping the other arm stretched above you and look at it.  Do it 4 times (two on each side).
   7. Now with your feet touching the ground, bring your arms to the ground as well and stay in a table-like position. This is basically getting into pose for Adho Mukha Svanasana or downward dog pose. Breathe out and bring the hip upward, lengthen the arms and push the head inward to touch the ears to the inner arms. Stay in this position and breathe in and out a few times. Release and come back to the table position. 
   8. Now lie down on your back and hoist your legs up against the wall. This is the Viparita Karani or legs up against the wall pose. This is a way of relaxation. Pay attention to your breath. 
   9. Finally come down to Savasana position.

The last step of this routine takes place before the day get over, this is the final variation of meditation in which the support of the diya is taken away and the person simply closes their eyes and invokes the state of dhyana.

We hope that this article helped!

Here is Yogasvis’ 21 Day Yoga for you to reduce stress and anxiety. Remember, yoga is a way of life and not just a way to exercise. It advocates keeping others around us in mind. If this course helped you please be thoughtful towards other people around you and share it those in need. It is a journey towards being a better human being!