A few weeks ago while preparing for our vacation, I picked up a few books to read (lofty hopes, I know) should I get a free moment or two. Among the many books on yoga that I checked out of the library, the one that I picked up again and again was Larry Payne and Richard Usatine’s Yoga Rx. Yoga Rx, as its subtitle indicates provides step-by-step yoga routines and programs to heal common health problems. As you might expect, I was most interested in reading up on how yoga treats anxiety and depression. According to Payne and Usatine, the yoga prescription for mental health includes: the care of a mental health professional, enlisting the help of trusted persons, eating a healthy diet, reducing intake of caffeine and tea, getting enough sleep, practicing yoga breathing, having/learning an awareness of your body’s signals of anxiety, meditation, committing to yoga for at least 6 months, and practicing a yoga routine that is outlined specifically for anxiety and depression.
Poses recommended for coping with anxiety and depression include: Mountain, Warrior Poses, Forward Folds, Balancing Poses (like Tree Pose), Cobra, Child’s Pose, and Corpse Pose (this pose is one of my husband’s favorites).
Over the past 6 months, I have become such a devotee to yoga that I decided to return to teaching yoga classes. I am hoping to put together a “destress yoga” class (though I realize most people may find that most yoga practices helps with stress) or a yoga class for folks who think that they could never do yoga. In fact I just read a great article in the local living section of the Washington Post called “Yoga: It’s Worth Going to the Mat.”
The more I learn about yoga, the more I am convinced that our bodies can help heal themselves; I hear stories of people who tried yoga for back pain, diabetes, weight loss, headaches and migraines . . . the list goes on.
What do you think? Would you give a yoga class a whirl? Have you ever tried a natural remedy for healing an ailment?
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I’m so interested in that book — it sounds fascinating! I love doing Yoga with Emily, and we started when she was 4. (She’s now 6.) We also like to meditate during Clara’s nap time… Bliss, I tell you! Bliss!!
Once I get my work/life schedule under control, I think the most worthwhile use of my time would be Yoga! By the way, I appreciate your encouraging me to do yoga.
I am doing a yoga class right now, and I love it. I’m not sure it’s healing me on its own, but having that time to myself once a week is definitely restorative. That, alone, is worth something big to my well-being, no matter what other positive effects yoga may or may not have.