How Yoga works for Mental Health
Asheville, NC
Stress’s effect on the body
Stress in general can cause your energy to yo yo from feeling too wired to sit still to not even having energy to get out of bed and everywhere in between. The typical pattern with chronic stress is you power through and get shit done first until your body becomes totally worn out. If the body’s request for rest isn’t noticed or is ignored, all systems in the body will eventually become totally depleted, which leads to depression.
This yo-yo effect usually looks like being either too anxious to think straight or too exhausted and overwhelmed to brush your teeth before going to bed. The more stress you have, the less you can tell between actual and imagined threats to your safety and security. So, even small hiccups in your day, like being out of your favorite coffee flavor, turn you into a complete sobbing mess in front of your boss or when you least expect it.
Before you know it, your body ramps up the anxiety even more so that each second is nothing short of bracing yourself for the worst and life seems like a never ending battle ground. If this cycle keeps happening without a break, your body literally becomes void of energy to engage in day to day life.
How is yoga especially helpful for any of this?
Phase 1: Am I safe in my surroundings?
Yoga can serve as a placeholder, your appointment for tending and befriending yourself as a whole person. It's an invitation to let the container of time hold the responsibility of safety while you relax into the support of its walls. It is a space for you to let go of striving and look for the peace and joy in just being.
You provide yourself with this safety by choosing a quiet and comfortable space where you’re least likely to be disturbed and have plenty of space to move. The therapist provides this safety by inviting you to bring self-compassion and full awareness of the here and now to the session.
Phase 2: Where is my body in time and space? Do I have agency over my body?
While in session, you have the freedom to experiment with and get to know your own self, starting with your physical body. You have the opportunity to…
Notice where your body is in relation to your surroundings
Know the location of one part of the body in relation to other parts of your body
Becoming more stable in motion
Experience competence and mastery of your own body.
Actively relax
Safely engage in curious and playful ease of movement within a safe context.
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Slow and gentle paced, cross lateral movements, rubbing different parts of your body with your palms or moving two different parts of your body in sync with each other, repetitive movements, self-message
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Syncing the breath with movement by inhaling and exhaling at optimum and most convenient points in the asanas syncs the heart in movement with the lungs and links the brain’s practical and emotional parts into electrical rhythm with each other.
Lengthen the inhale or exhale depending on the need when managing energy.
Phase 3: What sensations do I notice on the inside? What does this mean for me?
Once you have mastered or become comfortable exploring the body, you are invited to notice each movement’s effect on the interior of the body. Slow movement allows for more subtle observation so that more change is possible.
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You notice details in the moment other than what is bothersome and your brain's beaten pathway of focusing on negative details begins to loosen.
Curiosity begins to undo the wiring of chronic focus on what is wrong, and your brain receives more accurate messages, better discerning between imminent danger and false alarms.
A safe place is created for asking honest and nonjudgmental questions like “Do I respond to situations in a way that brings me more balance?”
Thoughts and emotions are opened to the imagination. Then, you can consider other options including positive imagery and gratitude, which have a relaxing effect on the body.
This allows more fluid movement between activity and rest when your body is asking for each of these.
You develop presence, agency, self-regulation, resilience, and accurate messages to the brain that literally inform the sense of who you are.
Once you better understand your own self and what you need in life, you can define your values and priorities, leading to more healthy and balanced choices.
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Notice the effect of poses on your internal experience- heart rate, general energy level, breathing rate, shift in emotion
Time and space to think about your thoughts in spirit of curious observation rather than judgment
Space to question accuracy of thoughts
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Using the voice to chant a mantra stimulates and soothes the vagal nerve, which sends positive vibrations throughout your body.
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time to consider and strengthen new positive choices of focus such as gratitude, individual strengths, self-compassion, and curious creativity.
Yogic Cure for Managing Energy:
What if I’m too keyed up for yoga?
Poses
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Start with rebounding, bouncing, shaking, strong and standing poses. Once energy is expelled, then slowly moving toward stillness and more cooling, grounding moves
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Twists
Forward bends
Legs up the wall
Lower or close eyes
Breaths
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Example exercise:
Inhale 4 counts, Exhale 4counts 2x;
Inhale 4 counts, Exhale 5 counts 2x;
Inhale 4 counts, Exhale 6 counts 2x
Inhale 4 counts, Exhale 8 counts 4x
Inhale 4 counts, Exhale 6 counts 2x
Inhale 4 counts, Exhale 4 counts 4x
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Lengthening the exhale stretches receptors in the lungs and physically calms the body
This also syncs the heart and lungs into a cohesive rhythm while simultaneously linking the brain’s both practical and emotional parts into electrical rhythm with each other.
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Bumble bee breath: humming
Sitali: breathe in through curled tongue (cooling breath)
Sitkali: breathe in through teeth (cooling breath)
What if I don’t have the energy for yoga?
Poses
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Start lying on your back (supine poses), using small and slow movements at first moving slowly and gently to standing.
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Heart openers like warrior one, cobras, and locusts are helpful in raising natural energy levels.
Lateral bends
Cross-lateral, non symmetrical, poses are particularly helpful for stimulating the forebrain or problem solving center and considering many different perspectives/solutions
Lift the eyes
There are many opportunities for pauses, and each activity is only an invitation, not a have to. So, you are free to stop whenever you please. Each step of progress toward activity is celebrated, no matter how small.
Breaths
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Gently lengthen inhales but never longer than exhales to increase alertness.
Ex: Inhale 4 counts, Exhale 6 counts 2x;
Inhale 5 counts, Exhale 6 counts 2x;
Inhale 6 counts, Exhale 6 counts 2x
Inhale 6 counts, Exhale 8 counts 2x
Inhale 7 counts, Exhale 8 counts 2x
Inhale 8 counts, Exhale 8 counts 4x
Inhale 6 counts, Exhale 6 counts 2x
Inhale 4 counts, Exhale 4 counts 2x
Breathe naturally and notice for two to three minutes.
So, What does Yoga actually look like in a therapy session? …
Yoga during therapy sessions is usually tailored to how much the need arises and how open the client is to experimenting with the body….
Most of the time, the above techniques are woven in among other therapy approaches while the client is sitting in a regular chair as they normally would. This might look like practicing mindful breathing or engaging in pretzel pose while positively imagining a safe and calm place, which is actually an EMDR tool. This might be followed by pausing to notice the effect this thought process had on their internal experience, emotions, and thoughts.
However, sometimes loosening up the body or role playing a possible at home yoga practice is needed. In this case, the session is planned in advance to be more of a moving session complete with yoga mat and intentional space for movement. During these sessions, I usually ask the client what they are noticing within their body and proceed from there with some of the above techniques. Frequency of the sessions are again tailored to the client.
Typical goals for a moving session include….
loosening up specific stress spots in the body,
guiding the energy to increase or decrease
creating a custom template structure tailored to the client’s unique needs for a daily yoga routine.
To provide a built in time of day as well as a consistent and active message to the body for a positive intention that is likely to last all day as a tactile reminder