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Meditation

3 Ways Yoga Can Improve Mental Health And Bring Happiness

August 14, 2017 by Ava Rogers

There is no dearth of fitness programs in today’s world. It has become a billion dollar industry selling dreams to common folks.

What is the reason behind this? Well, everyone wants to achieve that great body. The slim and toned bodies flaunted by celebrities in huge billboards at every direction.

Yoga is no different. Mostly it is being advertised these days as an effective way to get back into shape. And of course that is 100% true. Yoga aids in the improvement of body strength and muscle flexibility. And not only that, Yoga will ensure gradual weight loss as well. And most importantly, it can be practiced by anyone regardless of fitness level.

But most people tend to overlook one vital fact about Yoga. Apart from physical benefits, Yoga is also responsible for mental and spiritual well being. The importance of this, cannot be undermined in any way. So for a change, also do consider your mental health and read on to find out how Yoga can have a profound effect on the same.

Live In The Present

It is known, that people either tend to clutch on to their past good times or keep hoping for a prosperous future. This just reaps off the opportunity to live in the present times. But it is of paramount importance that the mind is allowed to live in the present. It helps it to attain clarity and satisfaction. With constant being unhappy about what was good or what can be better, is no way to live a happy life.

In today’s world it can be actually quite difficult to focus in the moment right now. Because we are always thinking about the office meeting next week for which you need preparation. Or the credit card bill that should have been paid 2 days ago.

Yoga helps greatly to deal with this issue. Yoga is all about attaining and holding particular physical poses for a small time period. During this period the breathing needs to be calm and controlled. This entire exercise has a meditative effect. The mind becomes immune to the external disturbances and learns to focus internally.

During performing Yoga, the Yogi becomes fully aware of his/her own being. The thoughts and worries drift away and mind thrives in the present moment. This is huge. With regular practice, the overall mental health improves greatly. Which will help you attain clarity of your thoughts, focus on your strengths and feel much more positive about yourself.

Relieve Stress

What do people generally do for reducing stress? Watch TV, play video games or idly lie down on sofa and go through social media. Or worse even, indulge in 1 or 2 drinks.

But are these practices really conducive to de-stressing? Maybe, but these can also be detrimental to overall physical well being in the long run.

Yoga, as mentioned earlier, constitutes of focused breathing. It has been observed in scientific studies, that stress hormone or cortisol level goes down through controlled breathing. Also it helps regularizing and lowering blood pressure.

Endorphins released in the process of physical exercise helps improve stress levels and mood. It is beyond doubt that Yoga is an awesome way for stress reduction in day to day life.

Balance Emotions

In this super fast paced age of competition and fragile relationships, emotional turmoil is a natural occurrence.

Professionals struggle to maintain work and personal life balances.

Teens struggle to maintain balances between their actual desires at one hand and pressure of expectations on the ot.

Each and every person goes through some form of emotional imbalance. In the developing years it has a more profound effect. Teens often have to fight with constant depression, sense of insecurity and anger.

A study conducted by a Harvard professor with 11th and 12th standard students showed something interesting. It was found, that those teens who enrolled for Yoga are in much better and balanced emotional state than those who took traditional physical education classes.

This proves without question that Yoga does have an immensely powerful effect on the mind and spirit due to its meditative roots. Thus you should embrace this approach of facing issues of life with a clear head and confident self. And Yoga will no doubt help you achieve this while retaining your mental happiness and satisfaction.

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Filed Under: Meditation, Yoga Tagged With: yoga, yoga benefits, yoga for depression, yoga guide, yoga tips

How Can Yoga Help You Overcome Depression

August 9, 2017 by Ava Rogers

There is no denying of the fact that depression is taking a toll on the lives of thousands of people in this modern age. The numbers have drastically gone up in the last decade or so. And there is no reason to believe that it will go down any time soon. With the modern age becoming more and more tumultuous and challenging, depression often overpower individuals when they fail to live up to unreal expectations.

It may sound unbelievable but more than 120 million people are thought to be suffering from some form of depression all over the globe. So, no. You are not alone. Not even remotely.

Most of the depression cases are being treated with antidepressant medication, also known as “uppers” within the common masses. But is it really helping to control the worsening situation?

It definitely does not seem so.

So, we should all stop and think for a while as to what are we doing wrong. Is our approach incorrect?

Should we not consider a much more holistic approach to alleviate this condition? After all this is a mental condition and treatment should not be mere superficial. Just calming the mind and achieving a clarity of thought can have a much better and lasting effect than gulping down tons of pills.

Yoga is going to help you do just that.

Yoga is a very ancient art and has its root in India more than 500 years ago. This ancient discipline has gained immense popularity throughout the world. And this is definitely not without reasons. There is hardly any other form of exercise, which can simultaneously improve the well being of the body, mind and spirit holistically.

Yoga uses unique combination of posture, breathing and meditation techniques to develop strength of muscles, calmness of the mind and rejuvenation of the spirit, all at the same time.

Aware of Your Senses?

How many of us actually pays any attention to our deeper senses while doing any kind of activity?

Hardly any one.

Take a simple example. While you are taking a morning walk, are you being aware about the other sensations like your pulse rate or breathing pattern? Most probably not. But in Yoga, that’s exactly what you need to do. Pay attention to the way you are breathing in and out while holding a pose. This has a calming effect on your mind because your mind is no longer allowed to drift away to external distractions.

A vast majority of those people who suffer from chronic depression face a major difficulty in getting out of their “mental hell”. These makes them highly vulnerable to many challenges of life, betrayals by their loved ones, failures at work place and many other day to day disappointments. All these negative emotions needs to be released for the mind to retain it’s clarity. When that does not happen depression strikes.

The Magic Of Pranayama:

There is a meditative discipline of Yoga known as Pranayama which primarily focuses on various breathing techniques. As previously mentioned it depends on the attention given to other senses of the body. The sensations need to be monitored from the perspective of an external observer.

In other words, you will focus on your breathing as if you are observing as a third person. This will make you play the roles of both an observer and a participant. This helps your mind to be focused on your own senses rather than outside influences.

                                                 

We all know very well how easy it is to get distracted in these modern world of smart phone and iPad. The mind tend to drift away whenever we try to focus on anything singular. Pranayama will concentrate your mental focus on your breathing pattern and worldly influences will no longer make you react. More and more regular practice will increase your objectivity and a time will come when the mind can rise above the emotion to observe any particular event in life.

Small disruptions will stop mattering in a big way to you. You will learn to acknowledge how trivial it is. Life’s daily challenges and demands will stop being a big reason of stress for you. With time, your mind will attain a serenity which will also enable you to see the futility of the day to day rat race. After all its meaningless to be a rat even if you win thousand races.

Yoga is a real answer to this over increasing epidemic called depression. And bundles with that comes a ton of other long lasting benefits for both physical and mental health.

The meditative techniques of Yoga is the aspect that makes it most suitable for people suffering from depression. No amount of medicine can ever replace the good effects of Yoga. Neither is any other form of sport or exercise is known to have the similar holistic effects on body, mind and spirit.

So it is highly recommended that if you are affected by depression, you should get started with Yoga right away. Yoga is the only discipline which irrespective of your age, body type, work schedule and social status, can be your true way to mental and spiritual salvation.

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Filed Under: Meditation, Yoga Tagged With: pranayama, pranayama benefits, pranayama for depression, yoga, yoga benefits, yoga for depression

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