Why Yoga is 'Magic' for mental health

The benefits of yoga for your mental health.

I’ll let you into a little secret. Yoga is magic! I know what you’re thinking, here’s another yoga teacher harping on about how great yoga is! But I honestly believe that yoga can benefit every single person and I’m passionate about sharing this magic with you all. And I’m not just talking about the kind of yoga that you see on instagram, you don’t need to be able to stand on your head to find the magic (Though apparently it does help us to keep us looking young…!) I’m talking about the kind of yoga that we can add into the every day of our lives. The moments of stillness. The energy of movement. The time we set aside to simply breathe. 

I went to my first yoga class a few years ago when my mental health wasn’t great, and I have never looked back. The physical benefits were just a bonus (I knew there were some muscles in in there somewhere!), it was this feeling of calmness, of space from the ‘real world’ to truly breathe and find who I really was again. So I kept going each week, then a couple of times, then every day until I realised I wanted to know more about this amazing practise and how I can share it with others so I did my teacher training. And that’s when the magic truly happened! 

Now not everyone has this passion or time to dedicate to yoga and I get it! So let me give you some insight into what I’ve learnt over the past couple of years so you can save some money on the training. And guess what it’s not all magic, there’s even some science behind it! Try setting aside 20 minutes and doing these following things every day this week and see if you can feel a difference by Friday! 

Breathing. (Pranayama in yogic terms) 

Did you know the majority of us don’t breathe properly? We have these amazing organs and only use a small percentage of them. Breathing properly is absolutely vital to both our mental and physical health. It increases the oxygen in the blood flow and reduces high blood pressure, it aids digestion and helps us to sleep better, it improves our immune system and our concentration span, and decreases stress. The optimum number of breaths is 6 per minute - crazy right, it feels like a minute is so long for such a small amount of breaths! 

So let’s test it now. Sit comfortably, breathe in through your nose for the count of 5 gently and slowly until you feel your belly button rise, then slowly release that breath through your nose for that same count of 5, then repeat this 6 times. That’s a minute already! How do you feel? Maybe slightly calmer? Did your shoulders relax? Whilst you were doing this exercise did you think about anything other than your breath? 

Exercise.  

Yoga asana (yogic term for the poses) is a physical practise, and I don’t need to tell you about the benefits of moving our bodies for our physical health - that’s a given! But how about for our mental health? Well when we move our bodies our brains release endorphins, which enhances our well being and gives us that feel good factor. It’s proven that moving our bodies reduces anxiety and depression, plus if your body is stronger then you’re more likely to feel more resilient and confident in yourself. 

Right, time to get away from our computers and move around for 10 mins. You could do some yoga, (See below for my 10 minute anti desk yoga!) ) a 10 minute walk, or put some tunes on and dance around your kitchen, (Alexa play party  playlist!) then notice the difference it makes in your body. Your heartbeat is probably beating a little faster, you’re breathing deeper, you may even find a smile on your face!

Stillness.

We are all living in heightened states of stress through the busy jobs, social lives, families and workouts that we squeeze into 24 hours. This leads to our adrenal glands releasing high levels of stress hormones into our blood stream which causes us to be in a constant fight or flight mode. It’s normal to have some of this, it’s how we survive and stay out of danger, however these increased levels are giving us higher levels of anxiety, depression and digestion issues because we don’t take enough time in the day for our parasympathetic nervous system to kick in and tell our bodies that we’re safe. Science says the optimal meditation time is 20 mins twice a day, but even if you do this for just 10 mins you’ll start to feel the benefit. 

Find somewhere to sit up straight ish but comfortably. (So a sofa is ok but maybe not your bed!!) Close your eyes and do the breathing exercise from earlier to find some stillness. You can carry on doing this for 10 minutes, or if you find your mind wandering you could start your own guided meditation and focus on each individual part of your body trying to relax it, starting at your tip toes then moving all the way up through to the crown of the head. People often have new creative ideas or solutions pop into their heads during meditation so make sure you have a pen and paper close by to jot them down afterwards!