While yoga is becoming popular on all fronts, one area in which its popularity is taking a slow, yet steady rise is in the healthcare field. Mental health is an area getting much attention in the media. With mass shootings and suicides on the rise, mental healthcare is a field which is getting more research and more funding. Yoga, in the same respect, is getting more attention in terms of research and funding.
Studies are coming out showing how yoga can benefit overall mental health. Yoga has proven to help individuals with anxiety, depression, stress, and PTSD. More and more research is validating what more yogis already know, that yoga can not only help treat these issues, but they can help prevent them as well.
Yoga has the power to modulate the stress response, reducing its physical manifestation in the body. Yoga also provides a coping mechanism, allowing individuals to use the breath to regulate the physical response of anxiety. By focusing on the present, yoga can help reduce some symptoms of depression and anxiety, as they may be related with focusing on future/past events which are out of our control.
Ultimately, yoga is one of my personal favorite self-care techniques. While it may not solve or prevent all our problems, it can help us by teaching us to focus on being present and mindful. These techniques can help us handle stressful situations as they are presented to us, as they inevitably will be.
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