While I have been a yoga teacher for many years, I have been a disease-care therapist for several years as well. This is because I have found therapy to be like an extension of the yogic practice. I feel blessed to have been able to not only help my yoga students become fitter, but also those who attend my therapy and counselling sessions to become less stressed, better adjusted, and mentally healthier. In my experience yoga itself helps people deal better with stressful situations and difficult emotions in multiple ways. This is borne out by several yoga studies.
Reducing stress levels and anxiety
There is evidence to show that yoga can help us reduce stress and feel better as we live our fast-paced, busy, demanding lives. Yoga can be seen as an intellectual and mental exercise that helps enhance feelings of wellness. The regular practice of yoga is seen to foster the feeling of positive emotions while reducing difficult emotions. Yoga is often prescribed as an adjunct to other treatments for mental illnesses, to improve outcomes. It is often also prescribed for patients who are undergoing stressful experiences such as cancer treatments.
Changing brain chemistry
The practice of yoga is seen to promote not only physical fitness, but is also seen to release feel good chemicals and hormones in the body. This helps to counteract the impact of stress hormones, and has a beneficial impact on neurotransmitters such as serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine and so on.
Studies have shown how yoga has a positive effect on “the structure and/or function of the hippocampus, amygdala, prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, and brain networks including the default mode network (DMN)”. It can improve the mood and possibly even slow down the kind of mental decline that is related to old age.
Increasing emotional awareness
As we perform yoga asanas in the correct way accompanied by the precise breathing techniques, they can have a calming impact on the mind. In particular, pranayama breathing is said to have positive effects on our emotions. It can help to reduce feelings of anxiety because of the impact pranayama has on areas of the brain connected to emotion, attention, awareness and processing.
In my own experience, as we do yoga and the mind becomes calmer, and we are able to examine and process our emotions in more constructive and positive ways. We can ponder on situations that are causing distress, get a better perspective on them, and find the solutions we seek. We become better at assessing problems and our decision making abilities improve.
Becoming more mindful and centered
One of the major benefits of doing yoga and meditation regularly is the ability to become more present in the moment. We learn to focus our mind better, and become more conscious of the here and now. We gain more control over our wandering mind, which tends to flit from one to another thought. As we learn to control our minds, we find improvements in other areas of life. This extends beyond yoga class: kids find that they are able to study and retain information better, and learn more effectively. Professionals may find that their productivity increases. We may all find that the memory improves, and that we are able to retain and recall information more effectively.
Freeing karmic knots due to difficult emotions
It is thought that the reason so many of us get stuck into negative emotions is because of the karmic knots that develop within us. As we undergo unpleasant experiences, stress, loss or trauma, these become trapped within us in the form of tensed muscles as well as mental tension. Yoga and breathing exercises can help to un-knot this tension and help release the prana or vital force, helping it flow naturally and unobstructed within us once again.
Yoga and meditative practices help with physical problems such as hormonal imbalances, palpitations, hypertension, fatigue and so on. People can manage their diseases better, and reduce or even eliminate reliance on pharmacological interventions. I have also seen how an improvement in emotional well-being helps to promote the process of physical healing. As a therapist I have also seen how emotional problems can complicate physical disease. This is why it is important to create a holistic solution that helps both aspects of our wellness. Yoga not only helps in the healing process, but it also makes that process more sustainable and lasting.