We all experience chapters of life that are more stimulating than others. Regardless of who you are or where you live, there is no doubt the past few years have caused a disruption to your normal everyday life. Nearly three years after the initial start of the pandemic, as things start to return to “normal”, it is easy to almost forget the immense stress so many of us have experienced. While the external stimulus of stress itself has passed, stress can be stored in the body and experienced in the form of tension for months or even years to come. In acknowledging this stress and practicing yoga, we have the ability to start to release what has been stored and is no longer serving us. Attending a yoga teacher training course in Bali is the ultimate step towards releasing some of the stress of recent years and incorporating yoga into your everyday life.
Well-known psychiatrist and author of The Body Keeps the Score Dr Bessel Van der Kolk states, “We have learned that trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on the mind, brain, and body. This imprint has ongoing consequences for how the human organism manages to survive in the present.” This exemplifies the fact that prolonged stress has an impact on our present experience of the world and our everyday life. From a survival perspective, by holding onto the tension that pandemic years may have caused, the body is trying to protect us. In reality, so much of the time the tension and pain we are holding in the body is unnecessary. In letting go of this tension through yoga we have the ability to experience more ease and freedom in the present moment- in both the body and mind.
A 200 hour yoga teacher training course in Bali can help you start to release the stress of the past years and experience more freedom as it takes you away from your everyday life. The body doesn’t know the difference between stress caused by an event when it happens or your memory of the event. The stress response is the same. So, if you are constantly reminded of events that have led to a build-up of stress, the body will react in the same way releasing more stress hormones and so it becomes a vicious cycle. Joining a yoga teacher training course in Bali for example, removes you from the reminders of stressful events or circumstances, allowing for an opening and release that you may not be able to access or experience if you were to do a yoga teacher training near where you live.
Unraveling all the stress of the past years may seem like a daunting task, however, we can all take steps toward regulating the nervous system and releasing tension from the body. Perhaps there has been a lingering tension in the shoulders since the pandemic hit, or your hip mobility has decreased significantly.
While this could be due to physical reasons, such as decreased movement or exercise, it is important to take into consideration the effects of mental and emotional stress stored in the body when looking to relieve this tension. Inner Yoga Training’s yoga training course in Bali teaches us that our connective tissue or fascia is known to be particularly susceptible to holding onto emotion and stress and offers daily yoga practices to help you release it through their combined vinyasa and yin 200 hour yoga teacher training course.
Yin yoga is the best way you can nourish the fascia and release tension from the body-mentally, emotionally, and physically. Yin yoga targets the fascia, that is the connective tissue of the body through disengaging muscles and allowing time and gravity to do the work in poses rather than the exertion of physical effort. By mobilizing the fascia through yin yoga we can start to release some of the built-up tension of the past years. Yin yoga will also teach you how powerful the practice is for calming the nervous system. Chronic exposure to stress can ramp up the sympathetic nervous system and put us into a subtle state of fight or flight mode throughout our day. When we are in fight or flight mode, we are more reactive and experience more stress and dis-ease in our internal world.
The longer we hold onto stress and emotions in our tissues the more it can start to affect other organs and body systems. This can lead to health conditions such as heart disease, hypertension, anxiety and depression, gut issues, and chronic inflammation. Our nervous system wasn’t designed to be living in a constant state of stress which is why a combined vinyasa and yin 200 hour yoga teacher training course is a perfect way to learn how to live more in balance and harmony and pre-empt any long-term health conditions caused by stress.