Yoga and Meditation

The purpose of this post is to extol the virtues of yoga and meditation, especially as antidotes to stress.

I get stressed easily. I worry a lot. Anyone who knows me will attest to this. At some point this year, as the signs of the strain on me that the stressful graduate school application process created were showing, a mentor pulled me aside to talk to me about stress management. This person talked to me about how stress can impact performance in school, at jobs, and in one's personal life. This person spoke from experience and advised me to try out meditation and yoga.

I feel that this person's actions were brave and befitting of an excellent mentor. I decided to try out their advice.

Now I have been practicing yoga and meditation once a week and it has made a large impact on my stress management abilities! They have taught me how to find calm in stressful situations (5 PM blue line, anyone?). These articles from the Mayo Clinic and WebMD (one of which recommends yoga and meditation 3x a week) lay out the incredible health benefits (mental and physical) that yoga and meditation can have.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/meditation/HQ01070
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/meditation/MM00623


http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20041108/yoga-gets-hearts-healthy
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20050304/meditation-may-soothe-stressed-hearts
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/yoga/CM00004