Yoga Therapy Goes Beyond Stress Management

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Robert Butera, PhD, Erin Byron, MA, and Staffan Elgelid, PhD, PT, co-authors of the new Yoga Therapy for Stress & Anxiety.

Robert Butera, PhD

We live in an era where most of our time—including so-called “leisure time”—rests in the shadow of ongoing demands. Pressure from bosses, family, and our own internal agendas creates a climate of continual stress within the body-mind complex. There has been a loud buzz about “stress management” for decades as experts teach us how to relate to our busy lives. Although the last thirty years of discussion has taught us to “manage” stress, reported stress levels continue to rise. Youth, adults, seniors and even children say that they often feel stressed. It is evident that this “stress management” approach is not moving us in the direction of health and well-being. If stress management worked, we would no longer need it.

Erin Byron, MA

Managing ever-increasing stress levels is not the answer. Society is ready for a permanent solution to its stress—a solution that is not currently offered in the “stress management” market. It is time to shift this approach and transform our entire relationship with stress. Yoga Therapy introduces you to a holistic understanding and experience of transforming stress.

Staffan Elgelid, PhD, PT

You may be familiar with the idea that looking at a situation in a new way alters the situation itself. The internal shift in perspective changes the feeling of external pressures. Yoga Therapy helps you examine your underlying beliefs and presents you with options to reshape old patterns by acknowledging who you are now. By changing old mental habits, we don’t just manage the stress life throws at us, we transform it to something else—something empowering and uplifting! Yoga Therapy’s transformational principles focus the mind, solidify priorities, and help us choose from a variety of perspectives and reactions.

In our new book, Yoga Therapy for Stress & Anxiety, we offer a plethora of ideas, techniques, and exercises anyone can follow to permanently transform stress. You are guided on a journey through your relationship with stress—including at work, in relationships, and in your own mind—offering you a strong, fresh perspective on your own role in creating relaxation, ease, and confidence. Introspective questions, practical exercises, and others’ personal stories engage you and inspire you to take simple actions that help you join the ranks who have already transformed their stress.

Society’s current “stress management” framework is flawed: professing that stress is an ongoing part of life that must be managed, rather than an internal perspective that can be transformed. Yoga Therapy empowers you to apply simple, practical, personalized techniques to get rid of stress for good.

Our thanks to Robert Butera, Erin Byron, and Staffan Elgelid for their guest post! For more from the authors, read their article, “5 Stress Management Tips for Relaxing Your Whole Being with Yoga.”