Yoga and Mental Health
breathe.
A growing number of studies indicate that yoga may be a beneficial treatment for mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, trauma, and eating disorders.
I have seen and experienced how yoga can be a key to psychological and emotional healing as well as resolving issues with self-confidence, relationships, and more; which is why in 2018, I decided to educate myself more and completed a 200 hr Yoga Teacher Training in Golden Bay, NZ and registered with Yoga Alliance.
The Benefits of Yoga
More than any other aspect of yoga, researchers have investigated how it affects individuals with mental health conditions. The results are overwhelmingly encouraging, suggesting that yoga helps improve mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, among others.
Complementing such findings are ground-breaking studies which suggest yoga practice is correlated with changes in the structure and function of the brain. These measurable “neuroplastic” changes are not just exciting and vindicating, they also show why and how yoga can benefit people who are struggling with their emotional health.
“Yoga is a psychology—the whole practice helps us work with the nature of the mind, the nature of being a human, how emotions live in our bodies, how they affect our behavior and our minds”
The Story of the Lotus
Unlike many other flowers, when the lotus first begins to sprout, it is surrounded by water and covered in mud and muck.
Despite these conditions, it miraculously re-blooms each morning undeterred by its dirty environment without a trace of residue on its petals.
The lotus continues to resurrect itself, coming back just as beautiful as it was last seen. With such refusal to accept defeat, it's almost impossible not to associate this flower with the symbolism of hope and unwavering faith.
A lotus is a survivor, as it pushes its way through muddy waters and finds the sunlight.
It stuns people with its ability to grow in the mud, dip into the grime, and revive itself unscathed. The lotus flower’s story is one of inspiration because it continually finds strength while growing and overcoming its environmental obstacles in order to show the world its beauty.
You don’t need to be spiritual to understand that we are all like the lotus flower. Many of us live in that murky water, and never make it to the surface so we can blossom. Many of us are close; we are just buds, ready and eager to feel the sunshine of life on our skin. No matter which stage of life you are on, I’m sure you can relate to the lotus and see yourself in its story. The conditions that produce beautiful life are not always ideal, but that never stops the lotus from rising through adversity, opening its petals, and blossoming in the sun.
“The lotus is the most beautiful flower, whose petals open one by one. But it will only grow in the mud. In order to grow and gain wisdom, first you must have the mud - the obstacles of life and its suffering. The mud speaks of the common ground that humans share, no matter what our stations in life.”
- goldie hawn
“Whether we have it all or we have nothing, we are all faced with the same obstacles: sadness, loss, illness, dying and death. If we are to strive as human beings to gain more wisdom, more kindness and more compassion, we must have the intention to grow as a lotus and open each petal one by one.”