Hi all
I have a General anxiety disorder and i was wondering if i start yoga will help me with my anxiety…
Do you know base on your experiences if yoga helps or treats anxiety? (i heard there are cases that yoga really treaded anxiety)
please reply your answer will be appreciated
Thanks
Yoga has helped with my anxiety, especially if you put your mind into the practice. You really need to focus on the Yoga, and avoid distracting thoughts. but there is no miracle cure. Cardio is good for anxiety, and I have found weight training even better. Meditation is also good. It seems the best approach is regular exercise, along with a healthy diet avoiding caffeine and sugar, and avoid too much constant stimulation such computers, podcasts, TV, playstation, text messaging etc… take some time out to slow down. Go for a walk, do some gardening, or some Yoga. I hope this helps.
One of my really good friends sitting here beside me used to have terrible panic attacks, and when she started yoga they have dramatically decreased and she feels great almost all the time. A lot of focus on the breath, a lot of slow movements and internal awareness is extremely helpful when practicing yoga to bring down anxiety.
Tip: If you’re feeling really anxious at any time, one of the greatest things you can do is go sit alone by yourself and take a lot of deep breaths, focusing on how you exhale and trying to keep your exhalation slow and smooth. Increase the length of the exhalation slowly if you are able, but don’t push yourself too far. It’s more about the focus and the smoothness than it is about breathing for a long time. 
Hello Nicos,
There are two points i’d like to make in reply to your question.
The first is that a more robust Yoga practice will be more effective. An asana (postures) practice is only a sliver of a Yoga practice. It is not that asana is unhelpful it is just an incomplete solution for what you are asking. Still, it may bring you enough relief to say “ahhhhh this stuff really works for me”.
The second point is that while there is only one Yoga, all yoga is not created equal. This sounds like doublespeak but it is really quite a clear viewpoint. You will walk past many signs that say “YOGA” but what is provided under each of those signs may be very different and therefore varying in effectiveness. The short of it is that some teachings of Yoga are very safe, yet not very effective. Others are very effective and not at all safe. So it is to the student to “shop” and find the offering which balances those two elements.
gordon
thanks you all people
“Innerathlete” can you help me anwsering few of my questions?
Could you recommend some postures or some breathing techniques a person with anxiety should follow? i dont know where to ask and learn about it thats why i join this forum.
and if you know does kinesiology helps at all?
[QUOTE=nicos;36783]Hi all
I have a General anxiety disorder and i was wondering if i start yoga will help me with my anxiety…
Do you know base on your experiences if yoga helps or treats anxiety? (i heard there are cases that yoga really treaded anxiety)
please reply your answer will be appreciated
Thanks[/QUOTE]
I will say practise two things, mentioned from the times immemorial:
Pranayama + Meditation
For pranayama you have a video with Yogi Ramdev:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-386913693756370208#
The video starts after 30 seconds and it lasts more than one hour. You basically have everything you need for pranayama.
For meditation…there are many types. Probably Hong-Sau meditation
is what you need . I am not qualified to give advice about that. Just ask a
guru…if you can find one. I mentioned Hong Sau because I know it and its effects.
Nicos,
Therapeutic issues should really be addressed with a qualified yoga teacher as the tools being utilized are tremendously powerful. And as we know from simply looking around, a powerful tool in the right hands is beauty, in the wrong hands that same tool is mayhem.
For anxious students a practice of backbends can be very helpful; sarpasana, bhujangasana, setu bandha, dhanurasana, urdhva dhanurasana (adv.), ustrasana (adv.).
Forward bends are to be avoided; uttanasana, balasana, janu sirsasana, paschimotanasana.
Meditation and pranayama also would be very good. Unfortunately many classical meditations stoke the vital force and while this was appropriate at the time of their development it is not appropriate based on the way(s) in which we’ve chosen to live as a society.
Likewise, pranayama techniques are often misused due to a lack of understanding and absence of context. Student’s latch on to a particular pranayama, having been told it is effective, without understanding the cautions involved (tools in the wrong hands, if you will). So for breath work I would suggest (again) finding a teacher and beginning ONLY with a gentle Ujjayi pranayama or Viloma II.
As for kinesiology, that is the study of human movement so in this particular case it is not a remedy, per se, for anxiety, though movement will be good for those with anxiety issues.
gordon
[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;36823]For anxious students a practice of backbends can be very helpful; sarpasana, bhujangasana, setu bandha, dhanurasana, urdhva dhanurasana (adv.), ustrasana (adv.).
Forward bends are to be avoided; uttanasana, balasana, janu sirsasana, paschimotanasana.
[/QUOTE]
Hi Gordon, why is that? I am taught that forward bends are a good counter posture to back bends. I have known that back bends are helpful in relieving anxiety.
Ultimately Flex, “why is that” should be posed to the person who has taught you the principles of pose and counter pose. Generally we utilize asana a bit differently and so a direct reply is problematic.
In the teaching of asana, the teacher has to know their purpose. Is there a general purpose, a therapeutic purpose, a restorative purpose, or a release required based on the doing which has preceded (perhaps fitting the category of counter pose).
Since this is a therapeutic application rather than a general asana question my reply is based on that. I do want to make a correction. I was thinking more in terms of depression than anxiety. It is helpful for students with anxiety to do forward bends if they are ready to handle the introspective nature of such poses. Backbends (for the student with anxiety) should not be intense or straining.
The calming pranayama feedback stands as is.
in anxiety, from my experience, I tended to focus on failures rather then success. failures tell you that success is not possible, truth tells you that you succeed a lot of the time, you just may not recognize it.
InnerAthlete
Since my english are not that advance, i think i lost you, so at the end, people who suffer from mild Anxiety “lets say” should do the back bends but try avoid the forward ones?
Hi Nicos,
InnerAthlete is right. Please have a good Yoga teacher with you before you go into some of the asana and pranayama.
But very simple breathing exercises will certainly help you. I am sure you must have observed that your breathing changes when you are anxious. It becomes shallow and out of rhyhm. Yoga is based on the fact that breathing is the only body function that can be left unattended or controlled at will.
Here is one simple technique. Breathing is very closely associated with the subtle. So, try this: inhale slowly for 3 seconds and exhale for 2 seconds. No retention of breath, no force, even flow and engaging both upper chest and abdomen between rib-cage and navel. Let the chest and the abdomen gently rise and fall with inhalation and exhalation. This is essential pranayama. Beauty of it is that this is the rhythm of prana too. So, you regulate breath of air and prana together.
It is simple to practice too. Just take a watch with hand for seconds. Starting with 5 minutes, you can increase it to any comfortable length. Try it especially when you feel an attack of anxiety. REMEMBER: NO FORCED BREATHING. NO HOLDING OF AIR EITHER INSIDE OR OUTSIDE. JUST GENTLE BREATHING WITH RHYTHM.
This breathing will help you relax. When you do, meditate on the subtle movements in your body, particularly around the navel, which is the center of most of our fears. Those subtle movements will slowly cleanse the root of your anxiety. I pray that this helps you.
Thanks a lot for your advice Suhas Tambe.
One notice thow, most of the articles i read about breathing they write we should exhale slower and longer than we inhale… is the first time i hear from you exhalation lasting shorter than inhalation
Hi Gordon,
I'm sorry - my query may have seemed like a challenge (smartphone abbreviations get lost in translation). I am asking from a therapeutic point of view.
My asana practice is ashtanga, and although I do variations at home for different reasons, I haven't explored fully therapeutic applications of individual asanas.
I have heard that backbends relieve anxiety and wonder why that is. In your reply you mention handling the introspective nature of the forward bend. Some time ago I posted that I was very uncomfortable mentally in halasana. Forward bends don't affect me in the same way, but I can see the relation.
So, my question really is: what is it about backbends that makes it beneficial in relieving anxiety?
Here are a couple of articles that give the gist, but I'm hoping for more insight.
http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/2009/09/08/iyengar-yoga-and-depression/
There are many breathing exercises based on different approaches. But most of them need to be done deliberately and for a limited time.
The one I have recommended, is like converting our normal breathing into rhythmic breathing. That needs no special efforts (except while learning) and you can do it any time, while doing anything else.
Please try it and let me know. Thanks.
[QUOTE=Suhas Tambe;36871]
Please try it and let me know. Thanks.[/QUOTE]
Dont worry i will… you wont get away with it
FlexPenguin
Maybe back bends open the heart chakra…just a guess here
@ nicos
in the end, the student with anxiety may do gentle backbends and mindful, safe forward bends IF that student is ready for going inside themselves which is where backbends take us.
I too would advocate a longer exhalation than inhalation. A ratio of 2:1 is very calming for the nerves. Inhalation for a 3-count, exhalation for a 6-count AS AN EXAMPLE.
@Flex
No, I didn’t perceive challenge at all. I simply missed your question because I’m a bit scattered these days (for me) and my postings have become sloppy.
Backbends move the spinal column into the frontal body. This moves the student away from their past (represented by the back body) and toward their present. In addition, backbends can relieve pressure on the nerve roots as the frontal spine tends to live in a pinched state and opening that up can ease the nervous system which is where anxiety dwells. Yes, backbends can also open up the chest cavity and help to bring light and energy into the heart center (the energetic one known as the heart chakra, not the physiological one where the heart is).
InnerAthlete,
There are many good exercises, each for its own reasons. The good part of 3 sec - 2 sec breathing is it needs no effort and can be done anytime, anywhere. Secondly, it introduces rhythm in your normal breathing. I sincerely request you to try it out, before rejecting. Thanks,
Really good information here. Thank you for the exchange FlexPenguin and InnerAthlete, I learned something today and will do more reading on this.
one thing I will add to my prevous post.
sometimes we dont want to accept that [B]it is ok to feel this way[/B], anxious, rather we think we must be perfect and beyond it.
I tell this to myself
best to you
brother Neil