Stretching may be the perfect way to get rid of stress. As our Elyse Mickalonis tells us, May is Mental Health Awareness Month and professionals want people to learn how deal with anxiety, depression and other illnesses.

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NATIONAL -- When Stefani Mowry’s mother passed away, she turned to yoga.

“I had done tapes in the past, but never a class, I started coming to yoga body studios and fell in love with it,” said Stefani Mowry, Yoga Body Shop.

In fact, studies have shown that yoga can help ease the minds of people with anxiety or mild depression.

“I know of some research that’s currently going on at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine where they are in a sense subsisting yoga for medicine for anxiety types of conditions with great success,” said William H. Connor, Ph.D., Licensed Clinical Psychologist.

Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, health care professionals want people to learn more about anxiety and other illnesses.
They say this month is the perfect time to start taking care of yourself or someone you love.

"We sometimes talk about psychological disorders as in the mind, but something like anxiety is very much in the body as much as it is in the mind. We feel anxious, yoga addresses both the cognitive, or the thought part of anxiety, in the head and the physical part of anxiety that's in our muscles and heart rate and our bodies,” said Connor.

Yoga has been around for thousands of years. It has been known to improve health, lower blood pressure and de-stress. Some forms of yoga even include a relaxation period at the end of the class.

“Relaxation is important, just like your body needs sleep. It lets all of your muscles and cells rejuvenate. Even if it’s 5 minutes a day, it lets your body heal itself,” said Mowry.

If you’re looking for a way to exercise your body and mind, people here say, don’t be intimidated, because everyone is different.

“You’re not compared next to someone else and if you’re doing the steps right, everything is modified to you. It’s very individual,” said Tina Rose, Johnson City Resident.

Mowry added, “People I’ve taught that have disabilities that use a chair, there’s people that have been doing yoga for 20 years and are advanced. They’re all in the same class. It’s for everybody.”

Perhaps a way to truly de-stress your life.