We all know that Yoga is an excellent way to work on flexibility and strength. But how many of us know that Yoga is excellent at calming us down and making us feel happier?
The same can be said about meditation.
The second yoga myth is that yogic practice is only for young people who can touch their toes with their hands, bending forward.
Yoga, especially the slower forms of Yoga like Iyengar yoga or the Bihar School style, is more meditative and therapeutic. These types of Yoga are more about relaxation and getting the kinks out of your system than just losing weight and getting fit.
This article will tell you how to get happier and calmer with Yoga and meditation.
Let's do it!
What is Yoga?
Yoga is a blanket term that encompasses meditation, breathing exercises, and physical poses called asanas. It is also, as we know, an ancient Indian healing modality that is centuries old.
Study after study is flagging the dangers of sedentary lives on our physical bodies and even our mental selves. People who move less are typically more prone to depression, studies prove.
Yoga helps you move in better ways. It makes you move not just your limbs and torso but even the tiniest muscle in the internal body through calibrated movement.
This has many benefits. The blood flow in the whole body gets normalized. The head and brain get more blood flow, especially when you do specific asanas that cascade the blood flow in the opposite direction.
The best thing about Yoga is that it heals and recharges all the bodies around you. A human has seven bodies, including the mental, physical and emotional. With its meditative component, breathwork, and calibrated movement sequences, Yoga supercharges and rejuvenates all seven bodies.
Several forms of Yoga include Hatha Yoga, Iyengar yoga, ashtanga yoga, and others. Some of these are more useful in calming the central nervous system. Hatha yoga, a reasonably common form of Yoga both in India and in the US, is a type of Yoga that combines physical asanas or poses with mindful breathing. On the other hand, Ashtanga yoga is more strenuous and better for getting fit. Choose your style of Yoga wisely.
Breathing benefits of Yoga for mental health
You are advised to pay attention to your breath when doing both yoga asanas and pranayama.
Your yoga teacher may also ask you to follow a specific breathing technique like alternate nostril breathing, breathing from only one nostril, exhaling forcefully, etc., all having therapeutic value to all three bodies- the physical, emotional, and mental.
The asanas that open the chest, like Halasana, are perfect for people suffering from depressive disorders. This may be because when the chest area expands, you draw in deeper breaths, and your blood gets a fresh transfusion of oxygen that circulates to each cell of your body, especially the brain.
Deep breathing is an integral part of Yoga. We usually breathe from the diaphragm, called diaphragmatic breathing, and forget breathing from the belly. Belly breathing has a slew of benefits. As it improves blood flow carrying fresh oxygen and nutrients to the brain and nerves, it also helps you feel more inner calm and joy.
Other benefits are that deep belly breathing helps you relax and let go.
- The slower yoga styles like the Bihar School of Yoga are beneficial for lowering stress and accentuating feelings of well-being and calmness. They do so by incorporating meditation techniques to help calm the mind.
- Pranayam is perfect for calming the brain and the nervous system. Pranayams like Brahmari help calm the nerves down and even reduce blood pressure that may disturb your mental state.
- Anulom-vilom, alternate nostril breathing, helps calm the brain and nervous system. It normalizes several mental functions, like balancing blood pressure and secretion of essential hormones.
Psychological benefits of Yoga for mental health
The mental health benefits of Yoga are challenging to measure as compared to its physical benefits that can be easily seen and felt.
Several studies have documented the psychological benefits of Yoga, and we now know that Yoga releases feel-good brain chemicals like endorphins. These mood-boosting chemicals have chemicals like Dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine that act as messengers inside your brain.
Even though most slower forms of Yoga include controlled movements, they can still increase your heart rate, improve muscles' functioning, and trigger the release of these feel-good brain chemicals that act as mood enhancers that make you feel happier. Hatha yoga is especially useful in calming the mind as it stresses mindful breathing.
Studies also show that Yoga can also relieve depression. Its been found that Yoga is as good as allopathic treatments for taming depression, like psychotherapy and medication.
Yoga also doesn't cause side effects as medicines prescribed for depression like Lithium.
As yogic poses stretch, tighten and help relax muscles in your body, it is the ultimate healing modality for reducing tension. Studies show Yoga reduces stress levels. More than 86 percent of people report doing Yoga to reduce stress.
You can try practicing Yoga in a calm, peaceful atmosphere for added benefits.
Studies show Yoga can ease anxiety.
There is a deep link between anxiety and fast, superficial diaphragmatic breathing. This happens because of the breathing practice while you do Yoga.
Anxiety causes you to breathe more superficially. You can't take enough oxygen in, and your blood circulation gets affected.
This is why several psychologists are now using Yoga to treat anxiety disorders as a supplementary therapy.
Studies show Yoga Improves sleep.
One study done with people doing Yoga over 60 has demonstrated that they sleep more and have a better restful sleep daily. This is more true for older practitioners.
Finally, Yoga also enhances well-being and joy by making you more social. When you attend a yoga class, you benefit by interacting with other like-minded people. And social ties can help you feel happier.
It has also been observed that if you do Yoga regularly, you start choosing healthier lifestyles and food habits. You stop eating junk, cook more wholesome food, and become less sedentary during the day.
These also help you to be happier and more positive.
Benefits of meditation for mental health
Meditation is a mind-body, complementary form of alternative health medicine. It can produce deep states of relaxation and going inwards that release stress and anxiety.
Meditation has a great healing benefit for the physical body too. It has been linked with lowering blood pressure and even heart rate.
What's even better is that the benefits accruing from meditation don't end with the end of the meditation session. This technique unusually helps you remain cool and calm during the whole day.
How to use Yoga and meditation to be joyous
If you want to do Yoga and meditation regularly, learn from a qualified teacher. You can opt for a private session or practice in a group.
This benefits you because your yoga teacher can physically correct your asanas. She can also modify them according to your capacity.
You don't get these benefits when you join an online yoga class. There are a lot of chances that you may do a pose wrongly and get a negative effect instead of getting benefitted.
You can also sit on the unique yoga chair to do poses too.
Most online yoga teachers are not qualified and are more likely not to know the correct way to do a yoga asana themselves! We suggest that you avoid learning to do yoga asanas while watching classes online, on a DVD, in a book, or on TV. You may get seriously injured by doing so.
Another way to optimize the benefits of Yoga and meditation is to practice them more often. Just doing Yoga or meditation in class is not enough. Practice more at home, in the park, or even while working.
This way, you can go to your regular effective yogic poses and meditation type that are uniquely beneficial to you for controlling stress, anxiety, or sleeplessness.
Risks of Yoga
- Poor techniques of doing an asana, prior injuries, and pre-existing conditions can predispose you to an injury. This is why you should only practice Yoga safely with a qualified yoga instructor.
- The risks of getting hurt while doing Yoga go up in older people. They have lower muscle strength, bone density, and elasticity. If you are an older adult, talk to your doctor before doing Yoga.
- Meditation has no risks attached to it. But, avoid doing meditation in the car when the light is red. Always meditate in a safe place where you won't be disturbed.
Finally
Choose a meditative and spiritual form of Yoga, like Sivanand yoga or Kundalini yoga. These styles include plenty of chanting, meditation, and yoga asanas to improve your mood and mental state.
Keep true to your yogic and meditative practice and reap the benefits to your mental health
Must Read: WHAT IS ANXIETY AND HOW TO TREAT IT WITHOUT MEDICATIONS
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