The mental health benefits of yoga

[anthony]

Many people practice yoga for the sake of health, relaxation and fun. Practicing yoga has gained international popularity, meaning local classes usually aren't hard to find, and it's so simple to pick up and practice that many people do it solely in the comfort of their own home. What you might not realize is that yoga has several benefits to your mental health in addition to its much-touted physical health benefits.

Improve Mood
Two of the top things yoga seeks to provide are relaxation and stress relief. This is primarily achieved through special breathing patterns and various bodily poses. With a decrease in mental strain and emotional stress, a person's mood and overall mental well-being should improve significantly.

Supplement in Treating Depression and Anxiety
All cases of depression and anxiety should be diagnosed and treated by an expert, but yoga provides a lot of benefits for relieving some of the symptoms of these mental illnesses. Yoga allows you to focus, relax and exercise as well as providing proven health benefits that help reduce depression and anxiety symptoms such as improving respiration, lowering blood pressure and decreasing heart rate. Additionally, yoga is a form of meditation, which is another recommended practice for treating depression and anxiety.

Increased GABA Levels
Gamma-aminobutyric acid or GABA is a chemical within your brain that assists in regulating nerve activity within the body. Yoga has shown to improve a person's GABA levels significantly, which further helps relieve stress, improve mood and decrease anxiety. Specifically, higher levels help dim the 'flight or fight' response that is so active in people with chronic anxiety.

Improve Concentration
With so much going on in our daily lives, it's easy to become scatterbrained. However, with the melding of meditation within yoga, you will force all of those cluttering thoughts out of your head, forcing you to live in the moment. A clear head, relaxing exercise and a serene environment allow you to focus better and think more clearly.

Strengthen Memory
With better focus comes a better memory. This is especially prevalent if the person regularly practice yoga as well as the meditative practices that accompany yoga. When you catch yourself getting overwhelmed and losing track of what you need to do, certain yoga poses, breathing exercises, and other skills honed through practicing yoga regularly can allow you to stop, clear your head and concentrate on the present moment.

Assisting in Treating PTSD
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related mental illnesses are commonly treated supplementally with yoga. Many PTSD sufferers, such as war veterans, especially find benefits in the breathing techniques practiced in yoga. The reason behind this relief is yoga's ability to reduce unnecessary and interfering arousal in the nervous system.

Overall Better Emotional Balance
A recent study on yoga and teenagers has suggested that yoga may help a person better control their emotional state, particularly in comparison to more traditional forms of exercise. In the adolescent and teen years of life, emotional balance is difficult to achieve due to irregular influxes of hormones. Practicing yoga, especially early on in life, may help people achieve more balance in their emotional states as they get older.

 

[lorrainess]

any specific type of yoga or any? i used to do ashtanga yoga and found it too fast

 

[anthony]

Any form of mindfulness should achieve a calmed and relaxed state.

 

[Journeyman]

I am a counselor. I have done some “self hypnosis” and guided imagery. Most of the clients that I counsel have had traumatic background, and therefore often have a dx of “PTSD”.
Do you feel that yoga works better than typical self meditation or self hypnosis?
Thank you.

 

[anthony]

When you say “self hypnosis” are you saying, meditation? Hypnosis is not recommended for the treatment of those with PTSD, specifically nothing to do with traumatic memories or symptoms. If meditation, then we’re talking about a state of relaxation. I don’t think either is better than the other in the sense of PTSD relaxation. I believe where Yoga benefits, is from the relaxation combined with physical activity aspect, which then helps counter depression (majority symptom for PTSD) and helps maintain healthy body, healthy mind. Meditation is more healthy mind.

If you meditated or did Yoga or did both, you’re doing something good for yourself.

 

[Bee123]

I recently had a bout of deep depression from my C-PTSD. It was bad that it put me on sick leave for 3 weeks while upping my therapy sessions. I found that a 30 minutes infrared sauna session help ground me. Being in a closed room all by myself, noticing the heat, the changing in light, and every drop of sweat relaxes me.

I tried yoga in the past but I can’t get pass the fact that I have to be around strangers for an hour long.
I will give it a try again… maybe start with a shorter class.

 

[anthony]

I love the fact that you’re trying new things Bee. Well done. If you gravitate towards things like yoga, but can’t handle the class size, try and teach yourself in your own privacy. It is about the benefits it provides, the fitness, stretching, meditative aspects, that help. Not whether you do it in a class with others.

 

[Pecto]

Hi! Call me Pecto. Nice to know you guys! I am suffering from PTSD, and it was so amazing to experience in my life that I never expected before. I do yoga, sometimes. But most of the time I do meditation. It works better for everyone who suffers from PTSD and other stress things. If you don’t have a proper time and place, you could take a deep breath.. and exhale.. and inhale… Ya, it works too. I write my personal experience here because I think writing is one of the best therapy. You could do too.

Love,
Pecto