Yoga is an extraordinary spiritual science of self-development and self-realization that shows how to develop the full potential in our many-sided lives. It was first devised by the rishis and sages of ancient India and has been maintained by a stream of living teachers ever since, who have continually adapted this science to every generation.
The first-ever appearance of the word Yoga in the Rigveda is referred to in a number of the Upanishads. The first known mention of Yoga with the same meaning as the modern term is in the Katha Upanishad, which was probably composed between the fifth and third centuries BCE.
Moreover, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when people are losing their job and living standard, they are also being victimized by anxiety and anxiety disorders. At the same time, people should take care of their mental health.
Yoga offers physical and mental health benefits for people of all ages. Moreover, if the person is suffering from illness, recovering from surgery, or living with a chronic condition, yoga can become an integral part of the treatment and potentially hasten to healing.
A yoga therapist can work with patients and put together individualized plans that work together with their medical and surgical therapies. In such a way yoga can support the healing process and help the person experience symptoms with more centeredness and less distress.
Introduction: Mental Health Benefits of Yoga
Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated in ancient India and aim to control and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciousness untouched by the mind and mundane suffering.
Yoga is a system of exercises for the body that involves breath control and helps relax both the mind and body. It is a Hindu philosophy that aims to unite the self with the spirit of the universe. There are several mental health benefits that come from the practice of Yoga.
These health benefits of yoga are given below.
- Relief from depression and anxiety
- Help to reduce the effects of PTSD and similar conditions
- Enhance concentration level, focus, and memory
- Improve the mental health balance
- Keep the brain young and active
Relief from depression and anxiety:
Yoga is a combination of exercise, meditation, relaxation, and even socialization, it’s an excellent way to relieve anxiety, its disorders, and depression. By regulating the stress response system, clearing the mind thoughts helps the individual to focus on the present and calm down the nervous system, yoga plays a vital role in bringing balance and peace back into the hectic life.
Moreover, Yoga is helpful to treat heart disease, and respiratory depression and has the ability to reduce the heart rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure, thereby relaxing and easing the anxiety issues and nervousness without having to use prescription drugs.
Help to reduce the effects of PTSD and similar conditions
Yoga may also help to deal with myriad types of stress, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). According to the study by scholars at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School, “participants in a kundalini yoga program showed greater changes in measures of sleep, positive affect, perceived stress, anxiety, stress, and resilience than those who didn’t do yoga.”
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Enhance concentration level, focus, and memory
Yoga helps to boost the concentration level, the focus of the person, and memory power. People who are suffering from short-term memory loss or Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been diagnosed through Yoga.
Regular practicing yoga helps them to overcome the symptoms of Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and helps them to sharpen their memory. Yoga helps to improve focus and regain the ability to get things done efficiently without getting distracted.
Research has shown that yoga can enhance concentration power and sharpen memory. Additionally, to turn inward and really listen to the body, thus there is no need to push too far and injure. Yoga requires that the person find a focal point during balancing postures.
In fact, it is hard to think of anything aside from maintaining the balance and form of standing on one foot while performing the tree pose yoga, which means to get to clear the thoughts, calming senses, and improving the brain’s ability to concentrate on one thing at a time. And by clearing the noise from the mind, the person clears space for better memory as well.
Improve the mental health balance
Yoga helps to improve the mood effectively and in a quick time. It helps to procure mood swings. If the person is having a problem with irritable or negative mood, in that case, consistent yoga can help to increase the level of GABA in people’s brains.
Additionally, GABA is a neurotransmitter in the brain that’s responsible for the way an individual feels. Those with low levels might suffer from depression, anxiety, and other negative emotions. Yoga can help boost the GABA levels so the individual can release negative emotions and moods, replace them with better ones, and reap more self-confidence and joy in life.
Keep the brain young and active
Another psychological benefit of yoga is to maintain the health and vitality of the brain even into old age. Studies have found that those who practice yoga and meditation have more resilient brains, as well as improved brain function, particularly in older participants. Thus to keep the brain young, well-oxygenated, and calm, yoga is certainly a tool an individual should use to stay vital in the body and mind.
Conclusion: Mental Health Benefits of Yoga
Yoga is the incorporation of meditation and breathing that can help improve a person’s mental well-being. It is an essential step to do yoga continuously at home on a regular basis. While medical professionals and researchers are putting efforts to establish the medical entitlement to yoga, people can also adopt yoga exercises at home to cure and treat anxiety and anxiety disorders.
According to Dr. Nevins,” regular yoga practice creates mental clarity and calmness, increases body awareness, relieves chronic stress patterns; relaxes the mind; centers attention, and sharpens concentration. She added, that body and self-awareness are particularly beneficial because they can help with the early detection of physical problems and allow for early preventive action.
Moreover, yoga works as a Mind-Body treatment in case anxiety increases, it may start to interfere with everyday activities and overall well-being and thereby meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder such as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Mentally, this includes pervasive day-long exaggerated worry and tension, inability to relax, difficulty concentrating, the anticipation of disaster, and excessive concern about life issues.
Patients are unable to control this even though they realize that their anxiety is more intense than is warranted. In addition, Kundalini Yoga’s efficiency in improving emotional well-being. That work has contributed to a study that showed the positive benefits of a Kundalini Yoga treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Kundalini Yoga is a credible treatment.
It is more effective than stress education in treating GAD, though not as effective as the CBT gold standard. However, many anxiety symptoms are actually physical, such as muscle tension, trembling, sweating, and insomnia. Such symptoms are due to an activation of the fight or flight stress response, which prepares both the mind and body for real or imagined threats by causing significant changes in the body, mind, and emotions.