Yoga for Depression
According to the
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a whopping 9.5
percent of the United States population, or about 18.8 million
American adults will suffer from depression this year alone.
Although major depression can be disabling and interfere with
your ability to work, sleep, eat, and enjoy life, there are
less severe forms of depression that although not disabling,
can interfere with your ability to function or feel good.
The causes of depression
include a combination of genetic, psychological, and environmental
factors. Recent research confirms that depression can be also
triggered by physical changes caused by chronic illness, injury,
or even normal hormonal disorders. Regardless of their causes,
the NIMH says that major depression is often associated with
changes in brain chemistry and function.
This is where yoga
comes in. I know that yoga can help with depression, especially
the kind that is generated by chronic illness and injury.
I know yoga helps ease depression; not because the academic
literature says so; and not from my own successes in teaching
yoga to depressed people. I know yoga helps because of my
own personal experience as a patient with clinical depression.
In 1993, I developed
MS and by 1995, suffered near paralysis in both arms. Clinical
depression followed because my life as a yoga teacher and
practitioner, as I had known it, was over. I completely quit
yoga and soon gained over 20 pounds. But that was then. Today,
my shoulders have mostly recovered and although I still endure
chronic MS pain and fatigue, I am no longer depressed. At
least I now have enough energy that allows me to do some meaningful
work. What facilitated my recovery? Although medication and
psychotherapy helped, what helped most was renewing the very
yoga program I developed soon after I became ill; and then
quit as my depression deepened.
Recovery Yoga
is a very simple yoga exercise program. No forcing, No trying,
No pushing into pain. No heavy forced breathing. Just a well-thought-out
simple and easy-to-do yoga program practiced 15-to-45 minutes
daily. Yoga helps enormously to deal with both the physical
and emotional aspects of chronic illness and injury. When
appropriately practiced, yoga increases healing blood flow
to all areas of your body and brain. Increased blood to the
body facilitates healing. Increased blood supply to the brain
promotes neurotransmitters like norepinephrine, dopamine,
and serotonin, which are the “feel-good” chemicals of the
brain. I was both depressed and overweight when I renewed
my Recovery Yoga practice just over four years ago.
It took nearly a year of daily practice, but as they say,
"the rest is history."
Today, yes, I still
have MS and most that goes with it, but the depression has
passed. My yoga practice has also helped me to lose all that
extra weight. That alone has increased my energy. Although
I'm still quite limited in my ability to work, I have enough
energy to teach part-time, and to help other people, such
as writing these articles and adding material to my website.
I didn’t choose MS and its debilitating physical and emotional
illness, but at least, I can choose to practice yoga in a
way that maximizes my potential and minimizes my liability.
For me, the payback of doing yoga well exceeds the energy
I expend in its practice.
Article
by yoga instructor Sam Dworkis, auther of Recovery Yoga
and ExTension. Visit his web site at www.extensionyoga.com
.
The above article
is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease
or condition. A qualified health care professional should
be consulted before beginning ExTension or Recovery Yoga,
or any exercise program. Read the rest of our disclaimer
and terms of use.
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