Yoga Tips to Manage Anxiety

We all experience anxiety at varying degrees. In our current circumstances, anxiety levels have increased for lots of people. As a practitioner of yoga here are a few ways to overcome anxiety:

1. Breathing techniques or pranayama loosen the grip of emotions on our being. The moment you feel anxiety coming up, take a few long victory or ujjayi breaths. Breathe in for a count of 4, hold for 4, and breathe out for 4. Repeat this 10 times.
2. Get rooted in the reality that you are not just this body, mind, or emotions. Just as you have a house, but you are not the house. You see a mountain, but you are not the mountain. Similarly, you have a body, but you are not the body. You have a mind, but you are not the mind. You have emotions, but you are not your emotions. The more we can be rooted in this reality that the life force within us is a witness to the actions, the thoughts, and emotions, the less we get affected by them.
3. Be gentle on yourself. Just as you experience happiness sometimes, experiencing anxiety is also natural. Once you notice it, use our yogic tips.
4. Soothing asanas such as paschimottanasana (seated forward bend) relax our nervous system. You can check out more poses to relieve anxiety here.

On the path of yoga you practice this again and again. The more you practice this on and off the mat the better you get at it.