3 Ways Yoga Boosts Mental Health
When you think of mental health, what comes to mind? The mind, yes. But there is more to mental health than the mind alone. We are complex creatures. Body, mind and spirit comprise an inner orchestra that works in concert. When one of these is off, the whole symphony can go wrong. Yes, it’s important to examine your thoughts. But happiness is more than just mental. Indeed, many schools of psychology incorporate somatic and spiritual interventions to heal psychological maladies. For example, you may find relief by identifying and investigating a bodily felt sense in therapy. Or, you may be able to unhook from relentless worries by engaging in mindfulness or meditation on your own. Now, imagine one approach that encompasses body, mind and spirit all at once. Therein lies the magic of yoga.
Yogaaaah
Yoga and all it has to offer can’t be done justice in a blog post. It’s been around for over five thousand years, before physical exercise had much to do with it. Today, yoga is thankfully available to the masses on a world-wide scale. Its ancient origin and layered depths of wisdom may be accessed with a bit of research, if you’re curious. This brief endorsement is limited to a few of the many mental health rewards a yoga practice may reap. To follow the impressive data on the benefits of meditation, research points to yoga’s effectiveness in managing anxiety, depression and stress. But the best proof of yoga’s mental health benefits can be had from a dedicated hour on your yoga mat. If you don’t feel renewed, inspired, transformed or blissed out—try another studio, another class, another teacher and another style of yoga on another day.
I began doing yoga 25 years ago. Nothing too lofty, mind you—just a cheesy VHS tape, filmed in the desert that I practiced at home before going to work in the ad biz. Despite this meager start, in no time, I was hooked. Through exposure to different methods, instructors and in-person classes at local studios, my practice deepened. For many years, yoga was the guilty pleasure in my otherwise punishing workout repertoire. I would delight in an indulgent yoga class as a reward between long jogs or visits to the gym. Eventually, yoga took its rightful place as my mainstay. Now I mostly do yoga, peppered with other forms of exercise in between. It still feels like a luxurious short-cut that weaves overall wellness into one hour on the mat.
Before extolling some of its mental health benefits to follow, it’s important to note that yoga is not a cure-all, and it’s no substitute for the right therapist. Make no mistake, a yoga teacher, wise and inspiring as he or she may be, is not a mental health professional. Psychotherapy may be the best intervention, even for seasoned yogis. That said, yoga could be a perfect companion to therapy. Here are 3 ways it can help with mental health:
Quieting the mind through movement.
As a therapist, I often recommend meditation to quiet the mind, soothe the nervous system and relieve stress. Yet, classic meditation involves sitting still with a straight spine. For the squirmier folks among us, that feels uncomfortable—sometimes impossible. Thankfully, yoga allows you to tame your busy mind while your position shifts and changes. You may find it’s easier to unhook from thoughts as you flow, because the poses give your mind a present point of focus. If you begin your practice with the intention to make it a moving meditation, you will be training both for a healthy body and a clear mind. As in meditation, breath is the anchor you return to again and again, while you’re on the mat.
There’s nothing like a challenging yoga posture to bring your attention into the present moment. If you find yourself balancing on one leg in tree pose, for example, you must stay focused or you’ll likely call “Timber!” As soon as the mind wanders to that reply you forgot to email or that item you need to add to the grocery list, you lose focus and can’t maintain the pose. However, all is not lost. As with meditation, when a thought intrudes and you build on it, just notice, gently release it and go back to the breath. If you lose the pose, no big deal. Just get grounded back into the present moment and take that shape again. As with meditation, a return to the breath keeps you coming back to the present moment. This necessary concentration trains the brain to stay present, tuning out all intrusive external thoughts. If all goes well, you won’t just be in the flow, you’ll be in the zone.
“At age 84, I have been doing yoga for 53 years and credit this practice and the associated meditation with my current health and ability to lead an active life. I’ve experienced first-hand the scientifically-proven changes that these practices make to the brain itself, including increased calmness and compassion and reduced anxiety, fear and guilt. And there’s not a single bad side-effect!” – Practitioner, R.S
Embodying equanimity as you go.
As you encounter the inevitable ups and downs of life, staying calm and composed is no easy feat. Yet, imagine what unshakeable centeredness could do for your mental health. Like a tree with deep roots, you’re able to stand tall in all kinds of weather, even as your branches sway in the wind. Yoga is a great way to train an evenness of temper and balanced state of mind. With your sticky mat and deep breath as home base, you learn to hold steady in your own centeredness even in the midst of chaos. As you do the postures, you practice your ability to tune inward and tune out distractions and other people around you. Even if your neighbor in class falls out of his or her posture, your unwavering concentration and soft gaze keeps you centered. Even when you fall yourself, you may learn to greet the experience with non-judgment and acceptance. As power yoga teacher Bryan Kest says, "Fall with awareness and acceptance." This way of being cultivates the capacity to allow life to happen without being reactive. Not a bad skill to have, eh?
When we’re able to meet challenges with patience and detached curiosity, we’re less likely to feel overwhelmed and out of control. Simply taking a breath before speaking can make a huge difference in how you relate with others. That small centering pause allows you to anchor to your deepest truth and convey meaning with compassion rather than do harm. In fact, in body work, balance is synonymous with health. Practicing balancing poses in yoga is equanimity in action, as long as you don’t freak out when you start to teeter to one side. One of my earliest teachers, Rodney Yee, says "Yoga is an ancient discipline in which physical postures, breath practice, meditation, and philosophical study are tools for achieving liberation. In my interpretation, achieving liberation in yoga means learning how to be present with everything that arises, whether it is pain or pleasure, sadness or joy, failure or success. And to be present with whatever arises, I believe we must not only be aware of what is arising but we must also be able to see all things that arise as equal, with detachment." In other words, it is what it is and here you are. Breathe.
“Balancing in yoga and life is a reflection of our inner state.” – Shiva Rea
Relaxing into the final pose.
Although yoga is much more than a great workout, it is that, too. A flowing routine incorporates postures to nurture your whole body, from the tips of your ten naked toes to the crown of your head. Unlike some sports, which work the same muscle groups over and over, yoga caresses your many corners with awareness, attention and love. Kest sometimes points out as he talks his class through a twisting pose, we’re used to working on our abs for aesthetics, but what about showing some love to that indispensable spine of yours? Yoga also allows you to go at your own pace, finding your own personal edge, rather than competing with others. This requires you to tune into the wisdom of your physicality, cultivating body awareness. You also get the relaxing benefit of resting postures, which may be incorporated during a practice, as well as at the end. A typical yoga class concludes with Savasana, which translates to corpse pose. As the name implies, this is a posture of total relaxation. Simply lying down on your back with deep cleansing breaths allows you to assimilate and integrate all the poses that came before. It may be hard to imagine that lying in stillness could reap any rewards. But this is your chance to let the benefits of all you’ve done wash over you.
The ritual of ending with corpse pose is a tangible reminder that sometimes, what’s really needed is to drop all effort and let go. It’s a beautiful metaphor for self-care, which is something therapists typically address in treatment. How kind are you to yourself? How willing are you to “just stop and let it feel so good?” It’s often said that Savasana is the hardest pose in class, but the most crucial. The idea that resting is important—even mandatory—delivers a much needed message to your nervous system. Granting yourself permission to relax might not be easy, but it’s a must. Not just in yoga class, but in life. Stare at a candle if you prefer. But do give yourself a chance to sink into presence, release all tension, relax and let go. Can you dissolve into stillness and ride the waves of your beating heart? Yoga is a great way to relieve stress, boost your mood and get some separation from all the noise outside and within.
“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.” – Etty Hittlesum
The tranquility trilogy
Given that mind, body and spirit are interrelated aspects of health, yoga could be considered an all-encompassing wellness practice, as it addresses all three. Yoga combines movement to cultivate physical well-being, meditative focus to quiet the mind, and the anchor of ancient spiritual wisdom to soothe your soul. Of course, there are other ways to cover those bases. You could get a runner’s high on an outdoor trail, still your mind with Transcendental Meditation twice daily and get your dose of spirituality from reading a sacred text before you go to sleep. Your path is personal, and we all have to find what works. Just remember, yoga might just be your short cut to feeling good from the inside out. As we covered, it’s an active way to quiet your mind, an embodied way to instill equanimity and a blissful way to release tension. Yoga isn’t a substitute for psychotherapy, but breath by breath, it has the power to elevate and transform you in a naturally, healthy way.