Practice of Yoga to deal with Depression

Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and sense of well being. It is a feeling of severe despondency and dejection. Adversity in childhood, life events and changes, financial difficulties, work stress, bullyling, injury, social rejection, peer pressure may precipitate depressed mood.

 Research shows that emotional stress like depression, anger, agitation etc can release hormones that prevent the heart from pumping normally and can reduce arterial blood flow, thus practicing yoga will help to expand the Heart Centre and help you exude confidence and grace, it will reduce stress by releasing tension held in the tissues of your body. Practicing yoga alters inner landscape in many ways. It reduces stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline once the relaxation response kicks in. After practicing yoga many people feel that instead of trying to escape the feelings, they can stay with them. 

Practicing yoga help you become more aware of your mind and mood, it builds awareness of your body, you start to notice the content of your mind. Yoga practice teaches the kind of acceptance you need to handle situations, you will undoubtedly have times when you want to come out of a pose because it is uncomfortable, it seems too hard, or it brings up difficult emotions. But yoga teaches you to notice how you feel and to use your breath to accept your current situation even if it makes you uncomfortable, sad or agitated. You will gain confidence and know that you have the fortitude to cope with the array of emotions that course through you. Developing the ability to stay with pain can ultimately diffuse panic and depression or allow you to get to the root of difficulty.

 Depression arises when a person tries to deny feelings such as anger or sadness. We develop a lot of strategies for escaping anxiety or depression - over eating, drinking, even exercise -because we are a sadness-denying society, but when you can learn to sit still in Yoga, you become a container for your feelings! Thus practicing yoga is extremely beneficial for people with anxiety and depression.