The (Novice) Yogi’s Guide to Mental Wellbeing
It’s easy to get bogged down and overwhelmed by life’s responsibilities and forget to take time to look after yourself; my previously fractious mental state and perpetual anxiety were a testament to this. I prioritised work intensely and neglected my interests, at the expense of my health and mental wellbeing. I took me a long time to realise that this lifestyle was entirely unsustainable and even then I wasn’t sure how to rectify it.
My first tentative step was scheduling time for myself, with the aim of reinvigorating old interests and acquiring new ones. That’s how I stumbled upon yoga. It looked like a fun class to do at the gym I’d just joined and two of my friends were keen to try it too. What I hadn’t anticipated was that beginning practising yoga would be a metaphorical (and actually, incidentally rather literal) sigh of relief for both my body and mind. A few sessions in and I was generally a bit less tense, ten sessions in and I was looking upon the week ahead with greater clarity and perspective. Nearly one year, one inversions class, 6427 handstand attempts and innumerable falling-on-face incidents later, I’m a different person mentally. I now do two taught sessions and three-four hours of independent practise weekly and I think it has opened me up to many of the restorative benefits yoga has to offer; it allows me to reflect, refocus, be consistently more productive and less irritable. I know some of you reading this may be a little concerned by the lack of solid evidence to back up those last statements, so let me provide some for you now.
It is well-known that meditative practices such as yoga facilitate the transition in the body from the sympathetic nervous system to the parasympathetic nervous system, i.e. from fight or flight mode to rest and digest mode. This is because focusing on and controlling breathing allows practitioners to achieve a state of deep relaxation and mental calm. Subsequently, the body reduces cortisol and catecholamine levels, including epinephrine/adrenaline and norepinephrine/noradrenaline, which trigger anxiety responses, such as increased heart rate and blood pressure. Moreover, a study published this year found that, when sustained for a period of 3 months or more, yoga stimulated production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This protein supports growth, survival and plasticity of hippocampal and cortical neurons and is concurrently involved in mood regulation and promotion of stress resilience, therefore could play a significant role in cognitive restructuring in response to stress.
Convinced yet? Maybe not, but I definitely encourage you to at least give yoga a try. It may not necessarily change your life, but it could make your day, and your head, that little bit lighter.
Namaste.
Here are some great yoga events and classes/workshops taking place in the North East in the coming months:
