Mental health & Yoga

Mental Health & Yoga

Having a mental health problem or seeing someone you love struggle with it is hard. I’m very supportive of the week “Mental Health Awareness Week” & from this, I ask you to be kind to the people you meet. You don’t know what’s going on for them right now.
I’m sure all of you have known someone with a mental health disorder. The range is huge from mild depression to psychotic episodes.

In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, he wrote that our mind is the obstacle to finding inner peace. The nature of our mind is to distort the truth, lean towards gratification & be stuck in memory/past experiences. All causing suffering in some shape & form.

Yoga is such a powerful tool for helping us to transcend our tormented mind & move us towards our most serene self.

I too have experienced some kind of mental health breakdown. In my 20’s I had a year of daily panic attacks. Although in hindsight, this debilitating interruption in my life actually resulted in a positive outcome.

It brought me to the practice of yoga & the inward journey of self enquiry. I read books on Freud & Nietzsche, how to meditate, Krishnamurti.

Because I have a daily yoga practice, it keeps me grounded & it brings me clarity. How often do you feel positive & strong after a yoga class? Okay, sometimes the practice of yoga slows you down enough to help you really see the truth of how you are feeling right now. And that now may not be an easy situation but it creates the space for you to listen & for you to be kind to your self with where you are right now.

Yoga has provided the tools to keep our mind clear & our heart open, so we can make the right choices in life.