How Yoga Enhances Mental Health

Is Yoga One of the Best Ways to Improve Mental Health?

While there is no evidence to absolutely say yoga is the best way to improve mental health, it is definitely one of the best and one of the easiest ways to do it, and it’s probably a great place to start before and after receiving professional help. Mental health should be without a doubt one of our priorities and commitments to our overall well being, and yoga for mental health has shown amazing results. We are finally giving mental health the spotlight it deserves so let’s talk about why yoga is an amazing choice to start improving our mental wellbeing and why we could say it’s the easiest.

 

What you’ll find in this post

  • Why is Yoga One of The Best Ways to Improve Mental Health?

    • Reduced Anxiety Symptoms

    • Alleviating Depressive Symptoms

    • Enhanced Emotional Regulation

    • Stress Reduction

    • Improved Sleep Quality

  • Why Yoga is the Easiest Way to Begin Enhancing Mental Health?

    • Accessibility

    • Worldwide Friendly Community

    • Beginner Friendly

 

Why is Yoga one of the best ways to Improve Mental Health?

Yoga has been around for thousands of years, and it has not been a stranger to being the subject of scientific research and the results have always been positive. So, I guess you could say the scientific community approves of rolling out a yoga mat to begin improving mental health. There are studies that show that regular Yoga can show drastic improvements in the way we sleep and even reduce anxiety symptoms. So, let’s talk about 5 ways and studies that show Yoga doing wonders for our mental state:

Reduced Anxiety Symptoms

According to two studies published in the National Library of Medicine, bending into a Downward Dog, or striking a Warrior pose can help reduce anxiety. One of the articles, titled “The Effect of Yoga on Stress, Anxiety, and Depression in Women” showed results that women after 12 sessions of regular Hatha Yoga would have their anxiety levels drop significantly. The other one, “Yoga as an Intervention for the Reduction of Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression in Children and Adolescents” showed that 27 experiments with adolescents and children resulted in around 70% improvements in Anxiety Symptoms.

 

Alleviating Depressive Symptoms

Now, while yoga is not a substitute for professional medical advice, another publication gathered data from 19 different studies and the results were outstanding. It focused on adults with depression, PTSD, schizophrenia, anxiety, bipolarity and even alcohol dependence. So, what was the big takeaway? The more yoga people did, the more it alleviated depressive symptoms. And the study really emphasizes regular yoga sessions, so sticking to yoga after just beginning is going to prove more helpful. It’s really promising to see that something as accessible as yoga can make a significant difference. You can read more about the study here.

 

Enhancing Emotional Regulation

Emotional control has also been shown improvements through a daily dose of Yoga. Another published article which conducted research on 110 adolescents, where, 52 would be practicing Yoga, and the remaining 58 would never strike a Yoga pose. And guess what? The teens who practiced Yoga significantly improved emotional regulation, self-esteem, and feelings. The article even goes as far as to say that Yoga programs must be incorporated as a major component of healthcare due to the high mental and physical benefits it continues to show.

 

Stress Reduction

Numerous studies have indicated that yoga can lead to significant reductions in stress hormone levels. A study published by the National Library of Medicine discovered that Hatha Yoga, focuses on mindful breathing and body awareness, activating relaxation responses in the brain and diminishing stress.

 

Improved Sleep Quality

A comprehensive review looked at multiple studies and found that women who took up yoga saw improvements in their sleep quality. Fortunately, enough, this is backed by measurements like the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), designed specifically by the University of Pittsburgh to measure the quality of sleep in adults.

 

Why Yoga is the Easiest Way to Begin Enhancing Mental Health?

I’ve been a victim of the misconception that many people have about Yoga. I always thought it was extremely difficult and that only flexible people with six-pack abs were able to practice it. However, that is not the case and Yoga offers a wide array of beginner styles that will help you improve your flexibility and resistance over time. It only takes a couple of seconds to use your favorite social media to see that there are many resources that will help you start. I know, there is a lot of content out there for advanced and medium-level users that are intimidating but the beginner levels are extremely fun, and with a little bit of discipline, that intimidating content will become a guide for you to climb to the next level. So, let’s talk about why Yoga is the easiest way to start:

 

Accessibility

Yoga isn’t something you MUST practice at a specific place. But it is recommended to do it where you feel comfortable. You can do outdoor yoga, or indoor yoga at your own home or even hang out with your lovely yoga community in your favorite studio.

 

Worldwide Friendly Community

Much like accessibility, there isn’t one Yoga Encyclopedia to abide by. There are existing resources out there like forums, social media channels, books, blogs, podcasts, and again local studios to begin your immersive Yoga Experience.

 

Beginner Friendly

As I mentioned earlier, Yoga’s existence isn’t just meant for a specific type of people. In reality, many studies like the ones mentioned above actually suggest that it should be offered as an option in our primary healthcare. So, the only requirement to start would actually be the time and effort, and maybe the mat too. Other than that, there are many poses you could throw at your daily routines to begin your Yoga Way, like, Downward Dog, Child’s Pose, Tadasana, Warrior II, Low Lunge, Shavasana, and others.

 

Finally, what are your thoughts on our take on Yoga being one of the best ways to Improve Mental Health? Well based on the numerous studies showing significantly positive results on, kids, women, men, adults, etc. I think we can say it is one of the best ways. Not only has it shown these great results on virtually everyone and anyone, but it is also something you can start right away and right now with the many resources available, with levels extending from simple standing poses to advanced stretching poses, and with all the existing communities. You can even start right now with a $45 All-you-can yoga and meditate for 30 days with Soul Tribes Yoga + Meditation. If you’re starting, thinking about starting or even a veteran in Yoga, we’d still love to hear your thoughts. Do you think it’s one of the best ways to improve mental health? Has it helped you and how? You can go to our Instagram Channel and leave us your thoughts, remember that although Yoga has shown great results it is not a substitute for professional help.

Mental Health, YogaCarlos Garcia