In today’s modern digital age, where our mind is continuously catching up with the fast pacing world that never seems to slow down, we often find ourselves craving a few moments of calmness and peace. In our continuous quest to achieve more in life, we often ignore our Mental Health. As we face our daily life challenges, don’t you think it becomes even more important for us to rediscover our lost inner peace and harmony? Indeed it is, but is this possible? Yes, Yoga for mental health can make this possible!
So, in this blog, we will understand Yoga, the benefits of Yoga for mental health, and different poses and asanas that can help you manage mental health in today’s modern life. So, let’s get started!
What Is Yoga?
Yoga is an early Indian science that helps millions of people globally to achieve an improved state of mental and physical health. Today, it is used by all, mostly by those suffering from stress and back pain. Usually, Yoga is thought to be something related to the exercises of the body, but it isn’t just exercise or a one-hour hobby class. Yoga means to unite one’s mind, body, and soul to improve physical, mental, and spiritual health.
The importance of Yoga for mental health is gaining popularity worldwide because even doctors advise patients to do yoga asanas and meditation as a remedy for overall healing. Yoga benefits us in multiple ways as it offers a stack of physical and mental exercises in the form of pranayams, asanas, mudras, breathing exercises, meditation, dhyana, etc., that possess the power to heal our mind and body in unimaginable ways.
From stress relief and weight management to improving your overall health, practicing Yoga can help you live an ideal and happy life. So let’s move ahead and discuss the benefits of Yoga for mental health!
Benefits Of Yoga For Mental Health
It is common for all of us to experience bad emotions and negative feelings, such as tension, stress, worry, depression, etc., and the best way to deal with them is to take care of oneself. Yoga can break your tiring routine by connecting with your inner self, quieting your mind, and enhancing your quality of life. The incredible benefits of practicing the best Yoga for mental health are:
1. Yoga Eases Anxiety
Anxiety is a feeling of worry, uneasiness, or fear that can be triggered by various factors such as stress, uncertainty, or even certain life events. Practicing Yoga for anxiety activates our nervous system to promote calmness while releasing tensions within our body via different asanas. The breathing techniques relax the mind and body, making us more aware and conscious in the moment.
You can try yoga asanas like Child Pose, Bridge Pose, Cat-Cow Pose, Seated Forward Bend Pose, Fish Pose, and Triangle Pose to get rid of anxiety and give a gift of calmness to your body!
2. Yoga Promotes Relaxation
After a tiring long day, all our body want is relaxation. When we experience stressful events in different life situations, do you know there is a Cortisol hormone that increases in our body? Yes, this is a stress hormone that causes many health issues. We must keep these cortisol levels in control through proper stress management. Several studies have shown that practicing Yoga has magical halting effects on Cortisol! So, if you make Yoga a part of your daily routine, it will have a lasting positive impact on managing stress levels.
Yoga exercises such as supported child pose, spinal twists, wide-legged forward, Fish pose, Legs up the wall pose, etc., and guided meditation can help you decompress stress effectively.
3. Improves Mood
Unlike heavy gym workouts, Yoga is a low-impact exercise that lowers our stress hormones by increasing self-awareness and feel-good hormones in our bodies. These natural mood boosters of our body are brain chemicals or gamma-aminobutyric acid (GBA) and endorphins. A yoga session undoubtedly leaves us with a sense of content and joy that uplift our moods and make us happy.
You can try some mood-boosting yoga poses like Mountain Pose, Camel Pose, Child Pose, Tree Pose, etc, and some breathing exercises.
4. Relieves Depression
When a person goes through depression, he has a continuous feeling of being disconnected from the world. The depressed person slowly starts pushing their life into darkness and loneliness, and that too unknowingly. According to the Journal of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, the production of Serotonin and Dopamine hormone plays a major role in our happiness and well-being while treating depression symptoms. Performing Yoga for depression with mindful breathing boosts Serotonin levels in our body, thus improving our emotional balance.
Yoga empowers us to discover a gleam of light in the darkness by finding joy in simple pleasures and reconnecting us to the world. Yoga asanas like Sukhasana, Vrikshasana, Halasana, Seated Forward Bend pose, Bow pose, etc., along with meditation, will help you manage depression easily.
5. Improves Sleep Quality
We often neglect our precious and restful sleep while pursuing our goals, which leads to numerous mental health problems. Yoga Nidra and restorative poses, among other relaxation techniques, help you sleep better. Yoga uses the slow, controlled breathing technique to activate your Vagus nerve that controls your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which regulates how your body rests and helps you sleep better. A peaceful good night’s sleep improves mental clarity and emotional well-being, which sets the groundwork for overall health and happiness.
Try Butterfly Pose, Locust Pose, Child’s Pose, Forward Bend Pose, or Corpse Pose to reap the sleep benefits from Yoga.
6. Controls PTSD Symptoms
Sometimes, when a person goes through a traumatic event more than once, he develops PTSD, i.e., Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In this condition, the patient experiences flashbacks and tends to disconnect himself from everything. For these people, Yoga can emerge as a path to self-healing. Regular practice of Yoga asanas reconnects us to our inner self, making us more conscious of the world around us. Hence, it is highly beneficial in managing PTSD symptoms as the patients regain their confidence to live more happily.
Gentle and restorative forms of Yoga like Hatha Yoga, Yin Yoga, and Kundalini Yoga help manage PTSD syndrome.
Types Of Poses Of Yoga For Mental Health
Taking care of your mental health via Yoga can offer you several options to choose from. Yes, there are different yoga asanas that you can adopt in your daily schedule according to your convenience and suitability. Let us brief you about them:
1. Pranayam Breathing Exercises: Pranayams are a great way to enhance mental health by focusing on breathing and controlling the mind. Deep breathing calms our minds down and makes us feel happy and relaxed. Some Pranayams you can do for your mental health are Nadi Shodhana, Bhramari Pranayama, Sheetali Pranayama, Sheetkari Pranayama, Ujjayi Pranayama.
2. Standing Poses: These asanas are done in a standing position. They help us to ground ourselves, calming the mind and easing stress. A few beneficial standing poses are Mountain Pose, Triangle Pose, Warrior I & II Pose, Eagle Pose, Garland Pose, etc.
3. Seated Poses: These asanas are done while you are sitting comfortably on your mat. These poses help fight depression, enhance sleep quality, and produce good mental hormones. Some well-seated asanas are Sukhasana, Padmasana, Gomukhasana, Vajrasana, Balasana, etc.
4. Backbends and Inversions: These poses involve flexibility and body movements to increase energy levels. You will be surprised to know, but these poses are good to uplift the mood. Backbends open our chest and heart, releasing all the tension and stress. Inversion poses, on the other hand, keep our nervous system relaxed and calm. Some helpful poses are Camel Pose, Bow Pose, Cobra Pose, Bridge Pose, Plow Pose, Halasana, Sirsasana, etc.
Bottomline: Benefits Of Yoga For Mental Health
When nothing seems to work for mental health, you only need a mat, comfortable clothing, and some space for Yoga. Doing the best Yoga for mental health is indeed beneficial in combating anxiety, stress, and depression. Yoga balances our mental state and gives us clarity by improving self-awareness. For any guidance for your first steps, you can always connect with the experts at Fitelo for online yoga classes. They can guide you for appropriate yoga asanas and diet plans to help you achieve your overall health goals.
So, don’t wait anymore! Inhale, Exhale, and start your journey to a happier you!
