How can yoga help me for anxiety and depression?

Question

I frequently go into depression and frequently become full of anxiety during the working days even for little stress. How can I cope with it? Can yogasanas and pranayamas help me to lessen these things and improve my personality?

Answer 1

Anxiety and depression being disorder of mental faculty should be dealt with psychiatrist. You need to learn techniques for stress management, time management , fear management and personal development through self-help classes or self help books and motivational books or classes. Auto suggestion and positive self talks for at least 28 days in the morning and evening helps to cope with stress and challenges of daily routines and increase the inner strength to beat the stress. However, alongwith it, certain disciplines of yoga can help you. Under Yoga, you can regularly adopt the following practices:

1. Under Physical aspect of yoga, you can practice pavanmuktsana, matsyasana, gomukhtasana, vakrasana, ardhamatsyendrasana, ushtrasana, bhujangasana, and dhanurasana and tadasana. Shashankasana, makarasana, and shavasana are relaxative postures and they should be done after practice of each asanas.
2. Under Pranayama, Naadi Shodhana pranayama, Ujjayi pranayama and Bhramari Pranayama will help you to cleanse your naadis and body as well as calm down your nervous system. 
3. Meditation and Relaxation: You need to learn instant relaxation technique, quick relaxation techniques, deep relaxation techniques, as well as autogenic training. You also need to learn yoga nidra so that you can feed positive autosuggestions to your subconscious mind deeply and get quick output in terms of mental efficiences and strengths. Om meditation, and Om Chanting will also add to the benefits received through the discipline of yoga. To calm down more and control the situations, you can also practice practice of breath awareness.
4. You may also try to practice breathing in 4:7:8 as developed by Dr. Andrew Weil, who is celebrity doctor and the founder and director of the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine.  The 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise is utterly simple, takes almost no time.  This has helped a lot of people and myself also. To use the 4-7-8 technique, focus on the following breathing pattern: 

• empty the lungs of air
• breathe in quietly through the nose for 4 seconds
• hold the breath for a count of 7 seconds
• exhale forcefully through the mouth, pursing the lips and making a “whoosh” sound, for 8 seconds 
• Repeat the cycle up to 4 times. This is illustrated in one following you tube video of Dr. Weil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8fjYPC-k2k

Though i have suggested very briefly, i will try to illustrate and explain later on.

The above practices should be done under guidance of qualified yoga practitioner and in consultation with your psychiatrist.

Comments

Thanks for sharing your comments in details. Namaste.

Answer 2

Apart from medicines, it is rightly written by Gulshan that treatment of anxiety involves the approach of Psychotherapy and Relaxation Therapy as well as Meditation.

I may also add here that psychotherapy is of two types for management of anxiety states. these include insight psychotherapy and supportive psychotherapy.

Insight Psychotherapy

This involves determination of the strength of the inner self that affects the stability of your relationships with family, friends and working environment, motivation for treatment and ability to bear difficulties in life.

Supportive Psychotherapy

this involves discussing your difficulties with the psychotherapist. Psychotherapist reassures you about unrealistic fears and encourage you to face situations and circumstances that are the causes of anxiety, it will help you understand the situations that lead to anxiety and change them in order to reduce stress.

As regards relaxation therapy, it is correctly expressed here in this forum.

So far as meditation is concerned, transacendental meditation or other simple forms of meditation that are not related to religious rituals or practices are likely to relieve symptoms of anxiety. Many research studies indicate that meditation helps maintain an optimum level of the involuntary functions of the body such as heart rate, respiration and digestion,e tc. by reducing the sympathetic tone.

Answer 3

Be Happy Right Now

We convince oursleves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another, get a new job, get a new house, then we are frustrated that the kids are not old enough and we will be more content when they are.

The truth is there is no better time to be happy than right now! if not now, when?

Your will life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with....

and remember that time waits for no one!

There is no better time than right now to Be Happy...

Choose to Be Happy TODAY and NOW!

Answer 4

Please use powerful poses to release toxins from physical body,Warrior one or two and breathe through nose slowly and steady.Forward bends if possible.Cat and cow stretch, child's pose staying longer in the position and surrendering to Higher Power. Savasana for relaxation. Blessings

Answer 5

Please practice warrior one, and   warrior two poses. First must warm up to prevent injuries.Powerful poses release toxins, sweating also helps to release tension.Focus on deep belly breathing through nose, pause and relax. Focusing on every move breath will calm your mind and after that cool down in to savanna and sit still few minutes, focus gaze on tip of your nose and surrender to God.Pray for others.Don't worry what is next rather focus on each inhalation and deeper exhalation. In my opinion, pills are not the answers, but it depends how much anxiety and depression one feels.Strong standing poses are important to release tension and relaxation comes with calm mind.Any physical exercise is good too before meditation.Must learn to surrender please

Comments

Any mental disorder usually has roots in attachments with material world and extreme desires and intake of tamasic foods. If we follow mental hygiene like physical hygiene, then we shall not suffer from anxiety and depression. And these mental hygiene practices are defined in yama and niyama of yoga discipline.

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Gulshan Kumar,your message may be correct but the society I deal everyday, mental  disorder happens because of stress, tension or fatigue.My students will go for counseling if they need to otherwise activities release stress and practice of yoga and meditation add peace and joy.I respect your opinion very much but may be cultural differences.   Blessings

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Yes I agree wholly with you without any difference, only the difference is of terms interpretation. See, stress is a distance between your present situation and targetted situation and the more distance it is, the more stress it is. You can also set analogy with the rubber band the more stretched it is, the more stressed it is and longer it is stretched, the elasticity is lost and when the elasticity is lost, the strength is also lost resulting into breaking of the thread. Sometimes, we ourselves set our targets so high as a result of jealousy, show-off, etc, we forget the present situation and when those targets are not achieved, the result is stress and post-failure disorders.

You may be referring stress to daily mental fatigue or exhaustion after long hours of distractionful and high concentrated jobs. This is right definition.  If we go deeply, we will find that the stress in such circumstances again are rooted in lack of team spirit, selfish nature, non-practically set targets, race of leading in material world. These problems are all rooted in the lack of values of our soul. We need to strengthen the values which would secure us from the stress. No doubt, after mental disorders are developed in one's mind, it is not possible to treat through simple mental hygiene. It then requires cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), Rational Emotive Behavioural therapy (REBT), and similar psychotherapies to train the mind to the desired outcome. May be I am somewhat incorrect, forgive me if I have crossed the limits.

Answer 6

Having frequent depression or anxiety attacks can cause lot of fear.You might have some fixation about your childhood which causes fear or anxiety.Please focus on some kind of daily activities, may be swimming or tennis or soccer or basket ball.After you get tired focus on meditation if possible.In my opinion, find some energetic pose of yoga if you can and then relaxation.   Blessings

Comments

Truly said that depression or anxiety attacks must have cause somewhere in childhood memories. I would therefore recommend for childhood emotional healing by the psychotherapist or hypnotherapist who will help you in clearance of emotional trauma, if any accummulated in your childhood memories through hypnosis. Believe me, it works wonder. You would feel very light after the process of emotional healing. Else, you can also work your self through subconscious programming through yoga nidra or deep sleep by giving yourself autosuggestions according to your problem.  But this would again require some professional help.

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very true, if severe depression must seek psychiatric help otherwise engaging in activities, strong asanas or taking mind off from the situation .Clarity with thoughts,healing with mantras and prayers.Belive me,I have done it all.Anger in me 40 years back made me hostile and I was acting like abnormal person, could not sleep at all.I did perform Taekwondo 3 hours a day to release my anger, stress because I could not yell or express my pain to any one.After 4 hours taekwondo punching and kicking learnt how to sleep like a baby.Yoga was added to have peace.God has helped me every step when I am following my intuition to keep moving.   Blessings

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Some times higher expectations from family and environment also put us in to stress.Once we find balance and peace with our inner alignment we learn to find the right path to lean on.My spiritual Ananda yoga Nayaswami Gyandev helped me and my husband to come to the understanding of family life. Gulshan, bhai sahib  sad to say so many young people suffering with mental disorders because lack of communication between parents children and teachers.kids need direction to lead to the spiritual path.

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Severe depressed students don't come to my class regularly.I am not supposed to do any psychotherapy as I am level one AYTT. We don't diagnose medical problems in our classes as LNRC is vert careful about their staff members and club members.Please correct me when I am no answering right or appropriate.

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What I have understood from my experience is that if the only effective solution we can offer to these youngsters and that works very well, if they are followed and that solution is Gratitude Journal. Everyday, one should write three things that has happened in the day or in his life, that he is very blessed with and thankful on a piece of paper. It should be practiced ritually every day and see how the life changes. It helps depressed and normal person. This would change the attitude of the person practising the gratitude journal writing every day to being creative one. I have helped many people using this gratitude journal and even do myself.

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Very well mentioned.Practicing the gratitude and making them aware about God's blessings. Thanks for helping the youngsters.They are the foundation of this world and we ignore them. Reform of the society is not with pills rather with focus and personal attention. Blessings Gulshan Kumar.

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Yes very true.Practice ritually every day even twice a day if possible.

Answer 7

anxiety and depression if serious must be dealt by psychiatrist.Some times people have fear and they need to release fear with simple yoga asanas like warrior poses. Dhanurasana  and Tadasana is simple and can be very helpful.Pranayama ,alternative nostril breathing can be helpful suggested by Nayaswami Gyandev McCord under Expanding Light {Ananda Yoga} Most of the poses specially pranayama always performed under the guidance of yoga professional.

You can also try guided meditation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmObPLbuGR0

Blessings

Answer 8

Swami Muktanand suggests how to handle depression - changing thoughts process and preventing culture of negative thoughts. He has very beautifully explained in the following video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTSZBS2nyUo

Answer 9

  You can practice spinal twist like above picture { I have demonstrated above} From downward facing dog to lounge and move your leg forward, stretch your other leg, heel stretching back engaging belly, ribs and turning on the side, relaxing neck and shoulders away from ears creating space can be helpful.Stay in position few slow deep breaths and relax.You can practice three legged dog on the wall if you feel like. Savasana in the end to relax on the floor is ideal way to surrender.

   

Answer 10

No doubt, yoga and pranayama can help to some extent in managing the anxiety and depression. But you still need to address the core issue that may be causes of such issues. In most of the cases, the root causes of most of the pain and discomfort people continue to experience is state of low self-esteem.  Many have felt it as one source of their struggles and hence, are confronted with anxiety and depression.  The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory is one of the most commonly used self-report questionnaires designed to measure attitudes toward the self in a variety of areas (family, peers, school, and general social activities) for adolescents and adults. Generally this type of test is employed by clinical psychologists to measure the state of self-esteem and scale the level of anxiety and depression.  Low self-esteem means that you feel yourself inadequate despite talents, abilities, etc. And many times, it is misunderstood and cannot be treated properly, the symptoms remain unrelieved despite using many other therapies that are not able to address low self esteem.  It will be better if you explore yourself with the different self-help books that discusses properly and guide on how to alleviate your low self esteem and let you assess if you are really suffering from it.  Two of these books can alleviate your self esteem issues by guiding you in step by step manual format - Breaking the Chain of Self Esteem and The Sorensen Low Self Esteem Recovery Program: Your guide to a life free of fear and anxiety

You should develop 4 habits to prevent tear of your self -esteem by others.

• Replace the need for External Validation- If you think something you like or you did is good for you, that's quite enough. If other appreciate, it is good, if not it is ok. Respect yourself. Stop looking for validation from other people. Lower your dependence on what others say.
• Stop comparing yourself with others - This rips your happiness and peace of mind. It should not make any difference if any one is better in finance or talent than you are.  You should have right to have your own dignity. Wherever you are in life, you are complete.  Protect your mind from developing envy and instead develop love and kindness.
• Making Mistakes - Every human being is prone to making mistakes. Even Warren Buffet, the richest investor in the world, has confessed about his mistakes every time in his letters to investors.
• Be Assertive - Don't be afraid to make the choices that matter you.