Happy Tuesday fellow minions! In yesterday’s post I mentioned I was sore from my yoga class the night before and I thought I might be coming down with something. Well, I DEFINITELY came down with something. Has anyone ever gotten sick after they started a new workout regime? Like I have been working out for 6 days out of seven for the past couple months but I add in yoga and all of a sudden my body is like:
Anyways, enough with my wallowing, and let’s get to the point of today’s post. Achieving health (physical and mental) through yoga. As some of you are already aware, I struggle with anxiety. This is something I’ve struggled with probably since high school. I have really good days, but then I have really bad days. After being a Probation Officer for several years, and three years of that being absolute hell (hello, burnout), my anxiety took a turn for the worse. My anxiety and my depression hit me hard and I was in the thick of it when I started my maternity leave. I continued to struggle with this for a good six to eight months of my son’s life – with my public health nurse checking on me every couple weeks. But I decided a couple months ago that it was time I started to actively work on getting better again. For my sake, and for my family’s sake. So I began a health journey (and started taking this blog more seriously) which focused on eating healthy, and working out.
So I recently signed up for a beginner’s yoga class in my town (since it’s been a whole damn decade since I’ve seriously done any yoga), and the classes are every Sunday night. What a nice way to end a week and prepare for a new week on the right foot. Practicing yoga provides many health benefits, and today I wanted to break down the two main areas that I’m using yoga to help with: Mental Health and Physical Strength. So let’s explore!
Yoga helps with Mental Health
A lot of studies have been done on the benefits of yoga. It’s not all woo-woo science either. According to a study conducted in 2009 by researchers in the Psychiatry department of Islamic Azad University, women who participated in a yoga class twice per week for two months saw a “significant reduction” in their level of anxiety.
So what is it about yoga that helps alleviate anxiety-related symptoms?
Well, according to Yoga Journal, yoga is made up of eight components: yamas (restraints), niyamas (observances), asana (postures), pranayama (breathing), pratyahara (withdrawal of senses), dharana (concentration), dhyani (meditation), and samadhi (absorption). These eight components work together by training the person to “refine” their behaviour on the physical plane, until that person can focus inward and eventually reach liberation and enlightenment.
That seems SO confusing after reading it. How does that help? Thankfully, what I discovered is that regular, everyday yoga that most people practice only utilizes two components: asana (postures), and pranayama (breathing).
Some postures can be challenging on the body, so it takes a person out of the depths of their mind and they must then focus on the movement and focus on staying balanced and strong. Meanwhile, deep breathing exercises, such as ujjayi (pronounced: OO-Jaw-EE) are performed to maintain a strong core or to remain relaxed.
If you suffer from anxiety, your mind is constantly running. I worry about things that will never happen. I worry about things that are out of my control. I worry about the fact that I worry too much. But last night’s yoga class stopped that rollercoaster ride for me for an hour and a half. I felt peace, and even though my mind wandered from time to time, I was often brought back through my yoga teacher’s voice directing through our next asana. This is the foundation of how yoga helps to alleviate anxiety.
Physical Health & Body Strength
I’ve discussed the importance of maintaining physical health as physical and mental health are intertwined with each other. This is why Yoga is a fantastic way to maintain physical strength and vitality. But how does it work?
Due to yoga’s many challenging asanas (postures), the body must utilize all of its muscle groups to support the body to prevent imbalance or injury. A great example of this idea was while we were practicing tree pose (Vrksasana). During this asana, you stand on one leg, with the foot of your other leg on your calf.
This posture can be challenging if you lack balance, however, while standing in tree pose, your foot is pressing into the ground, while your toes spread apart and press into the ground; meanwhile, your pubic bone is tucked, and your core is stiff and strong. Finally, you must focus your eyes on something that isn’t moving, and you must steady your breath. Only then will you achieve balance in this pose. Try it out right now! Try to hold it for 30 seconds.
As we know, when we challenge our body and its many muscle groups, it creates micro-tears in the muscle tissue, which then repair themselves during periods of rest (sleep). That is the foundation to building more lean muscle tissue. Additionally, the focused breathing can help to bring down heart rate and blood pressure.
Another study was conducted at the Department of Physiology M.R. Medical College, in Gulbarga, Karnataka, India in 2011. Only this study focused on whether the regular practice of sun salutations contributed to increase in muscle strength, as well as general body endurance and body composition. The participants of the study performed 24 cycles of Sun Salutations six days a week for 24 weeks. The results? Men and women both saw a significant increase in their ability to lift heavy weights (such as a bench press and shoulder press), and both genders saw an increase in endurance in push-ups and sit-ups. One interesting finding was that women saw a decrease in body fat percent, however men did not experience that effect (though their overall BMI did decrease).
Super cool! So, if you’re looking for a challenging, yet low-impact way in increasing your strength and endurance while lowering your BMI, practice yoga!
What do you think? Would you or are you already practicing yoga to alleviate anxiety and depression symptoms?
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Prairie Chick 
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