Finding ways to deal with stress and tension during a divorce or during isolation might feel impossible, but we promise it’s not.
I know this is a strange time to tell you that meditating and doing yoga will help, but you’re quarantined at home anyway; what do you have to lose?
Why yoga?
What makes yoga so unique is that it’s a workout for your body and your mind. Not only are you concentrating on your movements, but on your thoughts as well.
It combines a lot of stress-busting techniques into one activity: exercise, relaxation, breath control, and mindfulness.
Yoga invites you to suspend all judgement of yourself and others, which is especially helpful when it comes to divorce.
There can be a lot of negativity directed towards the other person and yourself. You don’t realise how much stress comes from self deprecation until you stop.
It’s a very helpful practice because of how customisable it is. You can go fast or slow, and each position has an easy option for those who don’t have a huge range of motion. Yoga can be anything from a spiritual stretching session to a tiring aerobic workout.
How exactly can yoga help my isolation or divorce stress?
In so many ways. Because you’re exercising while controlling the breath, your body is relaxed and energised all at once.
Adrenaline and cortisol are stress hormones that raise blood pressure and damage blood vessels. But scientists have found that people who did yoga on a regular basis have low cortisol levels.
People who practice yoga say it helps them by:
● Making them want to eat healthier
● Lowering stress levels
● Inspiring them to exercise more
● Lessening their cravings for alcohol and smoking
Yoga requires concentration on how the body moves and responds which helps to bring you into the present moment and gives you the chance to forget about everything else going on, like family law property settlements or the fact that you’re running out of toilet paper.
This, combined, with the exercise has a very positive effect on the body which will quickly lift your mood.
How do I get started with yoga?
You only need 2 things to begin: a yoga mat and a computer. That’s it.
Yoga is more accessible than most people realise. You don’t need to go anywhere or join anything if you don’t want to.
This is something you can easily do from home; it doesn’t require much space at all. Since we’ve been told to quarantine due to the coronavirus, this is the perfect time to start an at-home yoga practice.
So if you’re feeling self-conscious about it, don’t be. No one will see you; it can be your 30 minutes of escape from thinking about the divorce or worrying about parenting arrangements.
In conclusion
It’s a well-known fact that yoga and its meditative properties can noticeably help you to reduce stress, which is incredibly beneficial to your health in a time like this.
You can use it however you want: as an at-home exercise, a tool to help feel good about yourself again, or just a healthy distraction from thinking about life’s problems. It will help if you let it.
Has yoga ever helped you? Let us know in the comments!
About the author
Allison Barnett is an avid traveler who realised that her future lay in remote work after teaching English in Chile and Hong Kong.
After years of job (and country) hopping, she’s now happy to be an Expert Copywriter .
More ways to cope with stress during divorce or isolation
Read:
- Coping with COVID19 Coronavirus Angst: Find strength by knowing your strengths
- Coping with separation and divorce
- Guide to meditation and mindfulness
- Make your wellbeing a priority
- 8 tips to get a good night’s sleep
- Coping with anxiety when negotiating custody arrangements (adjust for physical distancing requirements!)
Watch:
Listen:
Talk:
- Contact us or book a free Divorce Support Options meeting to find out more about our divorce support services including one-on-one yoga, meditation, pilates or mindset coaching with our wellness coach and yoga instructor
Try some yin yoga now!
Our Divorce Hub yoga instructor explains yin yoga
Yin yoga is one of the most stress-relieving forms of yoga. It is low impact and doesn’t require previous yoga experience.
For Yin yoga all you need is a comfortable place to rest so you could do it on the floor, just on your carpet. If you have got a hard floor I recommend getting out your yoga mat and maybe also a blanket to lay down.
Yin yoga involves holding shapes for longer periods of time. So they’re shapes that are generally supported so they are laying down or sitting down. There’s a few that we do standing but not very many.
Holding the shapes there’s a little bit of discomfort. But, we don’t want to be overwhelmed with being uncomfortable because then we’re exciting the nervous system as opposed to calming it – which is what we’re trying to do, at the same time as relaxing our connective tissue.
Everybody is different and everybody feels the shapes differently so you might find one shapes is really tight for your body and you really struggle to get into it. That’s ok, you just modify it to work for you. Do as much or as little as you need. It’s really about getting into our bodies and noticing how we feel, so instead of getting caught up with our thoughts and our inner dialogue, the poses in yin help check in on how the body is responding and working with it in that way rather than getting caught up with what’s going on in your mind.