When a mental health problem hits and you start looking around for solutions, you’ll probably run into the suggestion of yoga somewhere along the line. ‘Meditation, relaxation and yoga’ are usually on the list of recommended lifestyle changes to help heal mental health issues. And there is no doubt that yoga is extremely helpful. However, it is rarely the first line of attack in mental health, being seen as a complementary treatment.
Role of yoga in mental health treatment
Therapy and medication taking a primary role in healing might be due to a lot of things. Factors like the availability of a place to practice yoga. Or the difficulty in using yoga as a mental health tool if we’ve never tried it before. And the lack of understanding, even among medical professionals who recommend yoga on how yoga works to heal our emotional and mental state.
The following advice is not meant to be substitute for the advice of your own doctor or therapist. But I would also say that it probably doesn’t go against anything they are doing with you , either. This is the one of the first and most valuable points about using yoga for mental health – it’s not going to make it worse. It is low risk and has good chance of providing some relief, even if only temporary.
Yoga for the physical effects of mental health
Yoga works on a number of levels, each helpful for mental health in their own way. On a physical level, a yoga practice gets us to connect with our body. With breath and movement we start to notice emotional states and how the body is responding. We learn to recognize tension as it arises, rather than after we’ve been holding it. Yoga poses require awareness and allow us to tune into what the body is saying. And best of all, give some relief to tense muscles.
The key here is to use the postures and stretches to tune into your body. Don’t get caught up worrying about doing it ‘right’, not being flexible enough or looking different. A yoga pose is meant to allow you notice your body, not for anything else.
Yoga for emotions and negative thinking
On a deeper level, yoga develops skills to manage emotions and habits. We can’t change the way feel instantly. We can’t make old thinking habits disappear. A point of frustration for many people in therapy is that all this changes slowly. In this sense, yoga is the essential skill that can tip the scales in your favor. Yoga encourages an internal stance of observance, compassion and non-reaction. Breath-by-breath, we learn to watch the painful thoughts and emotions rise and fall. We find ways to diffuse their power, even though they come up.
The key here is to use the pose to as window into how you think and feel. Sit with the uncomfortable emotional feelings in the same way that you sit with the uncomfortable physical feelings. This is how resilience is built.
Yoga as a spiritual healing practice
There is also a spiritual level to healing. No matter your persuasion or religion, mental health touches on a spiritual side. The word ‘psyche’ from which psychology and psychiatry get their names means ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’. Try as we might to medicalize our approach to mental health, healing puts us face-to-face with questions about who we are and what life is about. Deeply spiritual questions that will guide what healing looks like for you.
Yoga sits perfectly within this task along your healing journey. The awareness yoga brings to physical and emotional levels also helps to grow the part of us that is beyond all that. A connection with a capacity, an energy beyond the suffering. Divine things like love, patience and compassion rise up. And eventually even a certain peace with the lessons of this life journey.
The key here is allowing the deeper truth of who you are to shine through as you silence thoughts and feelings through practice. The word ‘yoga’ means ‘to yoke’ or unite. And through a yoga practice we start to reconnect with the source of meaning, who we are and what life is for.
Using yoga for mental health
Your healing will look unique. And this is where yoga is an excellent tool for mental health. In therapy and psychiatry treatments are guided by what works for most people. On the other hand, in yoga, the healing is based on your unique and personal needs. In other mental health interventions, you are a client or a patient. In yoga, you are the practitioner. You become the expert of your own transformation.
Yoga Therapy in Katy, TX
Getting extra support is important if mental health is affecting your mood or daily life. Talking to a supportive friend, good self care and maybe even a yoga class – in person or online – can help. Please see my YouTube for some free yoga practices you can do in your own home. Psychotherapy and counseling can also be a game changer for getting relief from anxiety.
I offer counseling and yoga therapy for mood problems (anxiety and depression), body image, eating disorders, trauma and relationship issues (communication, anger, boundaries) in-person or virtually. Yoga is included in psychotherapy work or yoga therapy can be arranged on its own. Contact me to arrange a consultation to discuss your needs. Click here to contact me now.