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Is all yoga good for anxiety?This is a good question, and most likely it comes from her own experience that some types of yoga causes her to become more restless and some styles of yoga are more calming.
I find turning to Ayurvedic Medicine can be a powerful way to find the answers to the question. According to Ayurvedic Medicine, anxiety is a sign of vata being in excess. People with a predominantly vata dosha tend to be incredibly creative, always on the go, their energy comes in bursts and they are prone to fatigue. Vatas have thin frames, dry skin and hair and cold hands and feet.
Ayurvedic Medicine works on the philosophy that like increases like. So when vata goes into excess and you start to experience anxiety, it is a symptom of too much air, too much thinking, too much movement, too much in your head.
This is no big deal, it is not a problem. It is simply a matter of bringing this imbalance back into balance. So you can imagine if experience has moved up into your head with worry, stress, your mind has sped up - you need practices that are calming, grounding, nourishing, slow to find balance. Vata is the most exquisitely sensitive dosha, so you need to take great care and gentleness.
In my opinion, yoga styles like power yoga, vinyasa flow, ashtanga yoga, kundalini yoga, bikram yoga and hot yoga can leave delicate people that are predominantly vata feeling further exhausted, ungrounded, and stressed out.
For anxiety, I would recommend practices such as yin yoga and restorative yoga. Both these styles have long holds and are incredibly grounding because they are practiced on the floor, and in the case of restorative yoga with many props. I would also recommend practices like yoga nidra which can help to release the anxiety and worry. The focused attention of bringing your awareness back into your body can help to change your neural pathways and release anxiety at its root.
So today I have a gift for you, 7 days of the best and most appropriate yoga to relieve anxiety:
If you made it all the way to the end give yourself a thumbs up and put, I am balancing vata dosha in the comments.
Thanks for watching, Namaste, Melissa
A 2016 study found that yoga nidra helped employees manage stress in the workplace. The study suggests that the process of yoga nidra accesses the parasympathetic response and decreases the sympathetic nervous system response which results in more physical, mental and emotional relaxation in our bodies. In other words less anxiety.
Today we are going to open to and become aware of anxiety. Just like the other emotions we have opened to experience, we can open to the emotion of anxiety. Anxiety is not good or bad, it is simply an expression of energy. When we open to the free-flowing quality of anxiety we can attend to its energetic nuances in our minds and bodies.Anxiety affects 18 % of adults in the US, approximately 40 million adults between the ages of 18-54. Those numbers are pretty consistent worldwide. Women are twice as likely to be affected by anxiety than men.
When we experience anxiety we feel an overwhelming lack of trust in our world with no sense of inner security or safety. There is a feeling of being out of control and completely groundless. When we experience anxiety, we wear ourselves out with relentless thinking which heightens our nervousness in our bodies and minds. There is a sense of there being a danger or threat or not being able to cope with what may happen. When we experience anxiety we experience irrational fear, we are hypervigilant to the negative and we worry excessively about the future.
With anxiety we are caught in an endless feedback loop. Our minds spiral into continual mental scanning which use up our physical and mental resources, leaving us feeling exhausted.
The experience of anxiety results in hormonal imbalances in our bodies as our adrenal glands increase the secretion of adrenaline and cortisol in our bodies. Adrenaline and cortisol are hormones release in response to fear and stress by the medulla of the adrenal glands and in some neurons of the central nervous system.
Research has shown that yoga is superior to other forms of exercise in terms of lowering cortisol than other types of physical movement. A research study on African dance and yoga for example actually showed higher levels of cortisol after the dance than before compared to yoga where the levels were reduced. In another research study with specific yoga poses, researchers measured the cortisol levels before and after yoga classes and discovered significant decreases after yoga class.
With anxiety we need to ask ourselves, where is my attention? Usually our mind is all over the place and our body is fidgeting. When we practice yoga, we can place our attention with the sensations in our body. Instead of wearing ourselves out with relentless thinking which heightens anxiety, we can connect with our bodies and be still. Yoga offers us a way to connect with the earth, to ground, release all that nervous tension into the earth and connect with a sense of safety. Restoring your body through yoga will help to recover a sense of equilibrium.
This full length guided yoga nidra/sleep yoga for anxiety will help you let go of anxiety and stress to experience a deep inner peace and calm. Through the practice of yoga nidra we can surrender the ceaseless nature of the restless mind, let go of the accumulated tension in the body, stop, let go of controlling the uncontrollable and rest into our body’s own well-being.When we are caught up in a cycle of anxiety, we are often trying to do too much. We are caught in a cycle of doing, doing, doing. It is excessive urgency. We feel like we have to control everything and manage everything by doing. To control the anxiety we just try to do more.
Through yoga nidra your body and mind will be led into a relaxation response and excess stress hormones such as cortisol are removed from the system. Your muscles relax, your heart slows down, your breath deepens. Your body releases GABA which is calming, as well as melatonin and serotonin. Yoga nidra restores the parasympathetic nervous system balance, reversing the tendency to move into anxiety under stress.
When we are caught up in a cycle of anxiety, we are often trying to do too much. We are caught in a cycle of doing, doing, doing. It is excessive urgency
We feel like we have to control everything and manage everything by doing. To control the anxiety we just try to do more. We think that one day we will find peace and relaxation, but in truth that day will never come.
During yoga nidra your body goes into a relaxation response and excess stress hormones such as cortisol are removed from the system. Your muscles relax, your heart slows down, your breath deepens. Your body releases GABA which is calming, as well as melatonin and serotonin. Yoga nidra restores the parasympathetic nervous system balance, reversing the tendency to move into anxiety under stress.
Acknowledge yourself for letting go of doing and controlling and opening into a practice that allows your body to release hormones that naturally including: GABA which will naturally relaxes your central nervous system, serotonin which increases neurotransmitters in your brain to help improve mood, and of melatonin which can help you fall asleep more quickly and get deeper sleep.
When you take the time out for yoga nidra for yourself, you serve all those in your indeed your entire life and beyond. Notice how this practice echoes throughout the rest of your day and night.