Yoga Techniques for Depression

By Sangeetha Saran

Anyone dealing with depression should seek professional counseling immediately. Depression can be a highly debilitating disorder. It is also a very personal one, making it a challenge to treat successfully. In recent years, researchers have been devoting a great deal of time to the potentials that yoga holds as a means of treating depression as an adjunct therapy, particularly as more people are seeking alternatives to pharmaceutical medications. Aside from issues relating to undesirable side effects, finding a way to manage depression without having to rely on externals, like pills, places the power to feel good in each person's own hands.

The results of an extensive study comparing the effectiveness of a broad range of yoga styles and postures were published in the December 2007 edition of Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. One of the most important elements affecting mood was found to be postures and pranayama exercises with a strong focus on controlled breathing, as is found within the Sudarshan Kriya technique.

Iyengar techniques were also shown to be particularly effective because of the balance between the physical and the mental. Science has already established the relationship between physical activity and mood, and clinical studies are demonstrating that the mental disciplines of yoga also have a lot to offer to those dealing with the challenge of managing depression.

Hatha Yoga, as performed and taught in the west, tends to be more physically focused, more active and exercise oriented. This was found to be useful for people who are dealing with both anxiety and depression. The physical activity and the brain chemicals that such activity releases resulted in decreased levels of stress and physical tension, which led to lower anxiety levels. That, in turn, helped to decrease depression symptoms and improve overall mood and sense of well being.

Aside from the direct effects that targeted yoga training techniques can have on depression, there are a number of indirect benefits as well that can help to alleviate symptoms associated with depressive disorders. Yoga can help a person with positive thinking and achieving physical fitness, both of which can boost self-esteem and help people feel more accomplished and happy. Attending a yoga school offers the opportunity to get out and meet new people, forming new friendships, which are an important part of mental health and well being.

© Copyright – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

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Spring Ayurvedic Detox Diet for the Pitta Dosha

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed

Ayurvedic health care practitioners believe that a state of disease is able to develop when the particular dosha or mind/body matrix of an individual is out of balance. Participating in a springtime detox diet will help a Yogi or Yogini to reestablish their internal balance through a purifying diet of healthy food, spices and teas. In fact, the elite Council of Maharishi Ayurveda Physicians recommends that all dosha types complete a spring detox diet in order to cleanse the body of toxic producing substances that may have accumulated in a Yoga practitioner’s digestive tract during the dark winter months. 

The Pitta dosha is the most fiery of all of the doshas. Classically speaking, the Pitta dosha is governed by thinking, learning and the fire of digestion. Yogis or Yoginis who are predominantly pitta in nature are usually highly intelligent, very quick in their thought processes, ethical and often excel in leadership positions. A Pitta individual also tends to be quite dharmic in his or her behavior and very disciplined, sometimes to such an extent that his or her outlook on life becomes quite rigid and set.  

When a Pitta is out of balance, he or she will often exhibit a high level of irritability and a short fuse, becoming easily angered at the proverbial drop of a hat or glass of spilt milk. An out-of-balance Pitta may also exhibit skin rashes, prematurely grey hair, excess stomach acid and an overly critical attitude.  Ayurvedic physicians recommend that Pittas eat cooling, sweet and cleansing foods, such as fruit juices and cleansing greens. An optimal Pitta diet will emphasize fresh plant foods and minimize processed foods, meat and seafood. Eating at regular mealtimes and exercising daily out in nature will also help to keep a Pitta dosha individual in balance. 

Participating in an Ayurvedic springtime detox diet will help to refresh and balance all of the doshas. An optimal Pitta spring detox diet includes lots of bitter, green leafy vegetables, including kale, arugula and parsley for their cleansing properties. 

Celery and cucumbers are also great vegetables to include in a Pitta cleansing diet. Additionally, blue, red and purple fruits are highly recommended for Pittas by Ayurvedic practitioners. A great way to include many greens, vegetables and fruits into your diet is by making a yogurt-based, green smoothie everyday while detoxifying. In this way, you will be able to include many of the recommended cleansing and bitter greens in a nourishing, cooling and sweet base of organic yogurt and succulent fruit. 

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How Yoga Training Helps with Spinal Disc Decompression

By Gopi Rao, CYT 500

Most people know that Yoga can lead to better physical health, but many are unaware of just how thorough the practice can be. When it comes to spinal disc decompression, Yoga can provide relief in several ways, making it a holistic treatment appropriate for people of all ages. Here are some of the ways in which Yoga helps lead to better spine health.

Stretching

One of the leading contributors to problems with the back and neck is immobility, and, as more and more of us work at desks during the day, these problems are becoming worse and worse. While many exercises can lead to improvements, few exercises do more for moving the spine than Yoga training, which is based around movement. There are a number of poses that can help with spinal disc decompression, but using a variety of poses is likely to lead to the best results in the long term. Still, if a particular pose seems to stretch your spine especially well, feel free to rely on it more than other poses.

Muscle Relaxation

Too often, people think of the spine by itself and fail to consider other factors of our bodies that affect it. Some of the most important contributors to spinal problems are the muscles that surround and support it. While strengthening the muscles that support the spine might not be enough to find immediate relief, the process can help. Furthermore, strengthening these muscles can help prevent future injuries. Yoga is a gentle practice, and sustained effort can lead to stronger muscles that can also protect against other types of injuries.

Posture

Maintaining proper posture is essential for preventing spinal injuries and other problems, but it can be difficult to maintain proper posture if you lack the proper flexibility and body awareness. Yoga training can help by ensuring that your body is prepared to support itself properly. While you'll still need to take steps to make sure you're maintaining your posture correctly, Yoga can make it easier to maintain your posture for extended periods of time. In addition, Yoga helps you develop the concentration and mindset needed to properly align your body. Posture is especially important for people who sit for extended periods of time.

Relaxation

While the exact connection between spinal health and mental health isn't completely clear, there's no doubt that they are connected, and the ties between regular Yoga practice and improved mental health are clear. Stress and anxiety are clearly connected to a host of physical health problems, and some researchers believe increasing rates of back problems are largely due to increases in stress and anxiety. When you maintain your Yoga training, you can help prevent anxiety by relieving it through physical exercise. In addition, the improved concentration and self-awareness gained through practice help keep anxiety controllable.

Faster Recovery

Another advantage of Yoga training is how it can help you recover from back and neck injuries and other problems. In some cases, the best way to treat a tweaked back or neck is through gentle stretching, which Yoga excels at. While recovery still takes time, your training can help you get back on your feet and back to being productive quickly.

Many people understand that Yoga comes with a host of health benefits, but many people don't fully understand how thorough these health benefits truly are. Stretching your neck and back through Yoga training is helpful, but Yoga's benefits go far beyond this. If you have spinal disc compression problems, make sure to add Yoga to your daily routine.

© Copyright – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

Click here too see our online Yoga Nidra teacher training course.

Are you an experienced teacher looking for YACEP credits or continuing education?

Subscribe to Our Newsletter for Special Discounts and New Products

Related Resources

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Teaching Appreciation With Yoga Classes

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed

When we are in an expansive state of being, our hearts are ebullient and our spirits are light. One of the fundamental reasons that may have prompted you to become a professional Yoga teacher is the sense of lightness, well being and expansiveness that a regular practice of postures, breathing exercises and meditation techniques generates. You may have also discovered over months and years of practicing Yoga that your own regard for yourself is higher. 

In addition, you probably have noticed that you take care of yourself better now than you did before you started practicing and teaching Yoga. One of the reasons that Yoga expands self-love is the sense of accomplishment and self-appreciation that is generated over time. On the flip side of the proverbial coin, a dedicated practice of Yoga also has the ability to uncover our weaknesses and idiosyncratic foibles, both physically and psychologically. 

As a professional Yoga teacher, you have probably learned that patient, persistent effort and unconditional kind regard for yourself and your students tends to generate the most effective positive change. When you approach your own goals and level of accomplishment in your personal Yoga practice with patience and dedication, you will be more able to approach your students with the same level of diligence. In addition, it is important to engage in your own personal practice with kindness towards your self. 

By implementing patience, dedication and kind regard in your own personal practice, it will become second nature to teach your classes in the same loving manner. A wonderful way to help you stay heart-centered when you teach Yoga is to focus on appreciation. Appreciation can include the gift of having the time, health and physical space in which to teach. Appreciation can also include gratitude for the dedicated efforts of your students. 

By grounding your teaching with a feeling of appreciation, your students will feel more supported and safer in your Yoga class. Take an opposite example to illustrate this point. Several years ago, I was taking a Yoga class at a well known and highly reputed holistic educational retreat center. When I entered the class, I was surprised that there were only five participants. It wasn't long before I found out why the class was so poorly attended! 

The Yoga teacher, who was leading the class, was quite militant in his insistence to do exactly as he instructed, regardless of what my own individual needs were. He insisted that I ignore the signals that my body was giving me, and that I compliantly follow his commands. At the time, I was still healing from a serious knee injury, so rather than damaging a delicately healing knee joint, I slipped out the door. In this situation, I felt disrespected and unsafe. 

In the same way, if you disrespect the individual needs of your students by insisting that all of your students adhere to a preset sequence of Yoga postures, you will likely generate resentment and fear. This will undermine your students' progress in the practice. An effective antidote to this situation is to cultivate a feeling of appreciation for your students and for the opportunity to teach Yoga classes. 

When you cultivate an internal stance of gratitude your own heart will open, which will generate feelings of empathy and understanding between you and your students. Your students will also learn how to generate feelings of appreciation and love for themselves, by emulating you when you exemplify a grateful heart and mind in the way that you teach your classes. In turn, expanding a sense of appreciation and self-love, both on and off the Yoga mat, has the profound ability to truly transform your students' lives for the better. 

Virginia Iversen, M.Ed, has been practicing and studying the art of Yoga for over twenty years. She lives in Woodstock, New York, where she works as a writer and an academic support specialist. She is currently accepting Yoga and health-related writing orders and may be contacted at: enchantress108@gmail.com.

© Copyright 2016 – Virginia Iversen / Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

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Compassion in Teaching Yoga

By Gopi Rao

It is said that the art of yoga may be practiced anytime as long as those involved remove their shoes first! All joking aside, yoga has, for thousands of years, been one of the best ways to maintain a prolifically positive quality of life and well being. The most unique aspect about yoga is that it requires involvement from not only one's mind and body, but the spirit as well. The ostensible meaning of the word “yoga” is not easily nailed down in an etymological sense. The concept of yoga is perceived in many different ways. This explains both why and how so many different varieties and “schools” of yoga have emerged over the ages. However, the most enduring aspect of the art of yoga comes from the realm of empathy and compassion. Yoga unites all of the senses, which gives way to a seemingly magical, truly palpable sense of heightened mental clarity and balance. This is why yoga has been known as an integral healing tradition for millennia.

Yoga instructors are infamously well tempered both physically and emotionally, and rightfully so. Yoga is not about garnering power or achieving a vain amount of muscular strength. It is about endowing a sense of respect for one's body – the spiritual vessel. Through this method, yoga instructors are able to personalize pose routines based upon the experience level of the students. Regardless of whether one is teaching beginners or seasoned professionals, the greatest teachers of yoga are the most patient and kind. This is because compassion is unattainable without patience. Imagine a tree with no roots, or a song with no chorus. Both can be completely real within one's mind, but could never exist within our reality.

However, it is not only the instructor who is held to a higher standard. Students must also be patient with themselves. Rome was neither built nor destroyed in a day. It takes time to overcome obstacles put before us. It also takes time to fortify new abilities within oneself. This is why compassion is of utmost necessity when it comes to properly understanding the balance and the intention behind practicing yoga. Breathe deeply, be confident, and give thanks for the holy reality in which we live from day to day. This is the most important way to make progress when practicing the art of yoga.

The Perfectionist Trap in Teaching Yoga

All kinds of people with all kinds of personalities attend yoga classes. One of the most complex challenges for a yoga teacher arises when they encounter students who are perfectionists. In their drive to master every element of every pose, these students frequently lose sight of their original motivation to come to yoga in the first place. Rather than being a time to become centered, to focus, and to meditate, for them yoga is just one more thing to memorize. The practice becomes stressful because they are so focused on getting it "right" that they miss the big picture. In this article, I will tell you how I approach these students in the hopes that you can learn from my example.

Of course, in yoga we cannot make anyone feel judged, and these students are particularly vulnerable to the feeling that they are somehow not meeting the expectations of a teacher. They have likely faced this kind of vulnerability for their whole lives. It can manifest in different forms: some students push themselves to do everything perfectly and will practice for hours until they are satisfied, while others compare themselves to their classmates and want to become the best student. These attitudes are not beneficial to their growth and development, so they will be better off if you can somehow illustrate a different way of doing yoga.

It is very tempting to try to correct these students and tell them what they are doing is wrong, especially if you feel irritated when they ask a lot of technical questions and seem to be missing the point. But first of all, you should recognize that just being in yoga could be a big step for them. It might show that they have some awareness of the fact that there is too much stress in their lives. So you need to make sure yoga is still a welcoming place for them. Talk to them, but instead of telling them what they are doing is wrong; discuss the beauty of yoga and its powers to guide your focus. This positive approach will show them what they might be missing in yoga. In the end, however, it is their journey, and you cannot take it for them. As much as you want to just tell them they are doing it wrong, they need to come to such a realization by themselves.

© Copyright 2016 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

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