Anxiety is personal for everyone. We’ve all suffered from anxiety to a varying degree at one point in our lives. You may know if you read this post about how I began my yoga journey, anxiety was stifling at one point in my life. I know what it feels like to be unable to shake anxiety and how frustrating it is when well-intentioned people tell you to “just relax” or “just breathe.” I am grateful that I had the courage to share what I was going through with my parents and my doctor, and that I was able to receive medication to help me through that difficult time. I fully believe that medication can be helpful and necessary during dark times, and while I no longer take anxiety medication, I am so grateful for the weight that it took off of my shoulders. During the peak of my anxiety, I decided to try yoga since it was highly recommended to me. I am so glad I did. It has been a constant in my life ever since, and while I don’t believe it takes the place of medication or therapy, it has certainly made countless positive impacts in my life.
Discovering the Power of Breath
To be honest, I was never aware of my breath before I started yoga — unless I was going for a run and my lungs were screaming at me. I had no idea that I could use something so simple and constant as my breath to calm myself down and release stress. Yoga is such a beautiful practice for those suffering from anxiety because each movement is linked to an inhale or exhale. Focusing on taking long, slow breaths calms the body and tells the mind that you are safe. For me, when I am at a yoga class, it is often the one hour a day that I am truly aware of my breath. If you feel anxious, your chest often feels tight and your breathing is shallow, yoga brings awareness to slow breaths, which help fight depression and support the immune system.
Connecting to Your Body
Moving your body is a simple way to get out of your head and away from the chatter of your mind. During yoga, you must focus on listening to your yoga teacher throughout the flow, the alignment of your body and concentrate on the poses as you flow from one to the next. When you are so focused on staying in the flow and setting up each posture, it’s difficult to simultaneously focus on what you were stressing about before class or to worry about what you have to do after class. The practice of yoga challenges you to devote your full attention to your body and how you are moving it. You must tune in to your body and the cues it is giving you, such as to challenge yourself to go deeper into a pose or to give yourself grace and back off.
Disconnecting from the Outside World
While I enjoy going to the gym or for walks, yoga is the only place I really feel disconnected from everything outside of me. It’s the only place I don’t have my cell phone and don’t get caught up in what everyone around me is doing. Most yoga studios will not allow you to have your cell phone in class and I can’t begin to share how much I love not seeing one cell phone for an entire hour. Don’t get me wrong, I love my phone and having the ability to talk with a loved one or look something up in a matter of seconds, but in the peak of my anxiety I felt pretty alone, which often led me to waste countless hours scrolling through social media comparing my life to the fun, exciting, joyful lives everyone else seemed to be living. I enjoy the gym but while I’m there I listen to music on my phone and can get easily distracted on it so yoga has offered a beautiful outlet for me to fully disconnect.
Savasana Bliss
Think about it, when is the last time you sat in silence with your eyes closed for five minutes without the intention of going to sleep? In today’s fast-paced world, we hardly ever give ourselves the chance to simply be in stillness. When you constantly move from task to task, you never allow yourself the chance to fully surrender into a moment of stillness without any distractions. For those who are anxious, savasana may feel difficult at first since you are forced to slow down and cannot use outside distractions to keep your mind busy. Although it may be challenging at first, you will get better at slowing down your mind each time you practice savasana. After moving with your body to the rhythm of your breath, savasana is the perfect way to end your practice and soak in all of the benefits of the space you created in your body and mind. You are able to fully let yourself relax into the present moment and take those few precious moments of stillness and quiet before entering back into the outside world.
If you suffer from anxiety, I highly recommend giving yoga a try. I know that focusing on your breath and ending class in complete stillness may sound impossible to your anxious mind, but little by little it gets easier. You start to be in tune to how your body feels and where tension resides in your body. You are able to release stuck energy through deep, opening postures. You begin to become aware of your breath, which extends into your daily life. I know that yoga may not be your total solution to ease your anxiety, but I promise you that it will help. Anxiety had a hold over how I acted and lived my life for so long, from simple things to getting to-go food in my college dining hall alone and thinking everyone was in groups and staring at me, to constantly agonizing over things that may or may not happen, taking time to slow down in a yoga class sounding completely unappealing. I yearned to go a million miles a minute to distract myself from what was happening in my head. I had no idea that by slowing down and focusing on mind, body and breath, that I would actually be able to make peace with what I was experiencing.
If you are experiencing severe anxiety and depression, please reach out for help. Sending you love and light.
x,
Morgan