Anxious Mind

One commonly suggested treatment for anxiety is yoga.  I know this not from statistics, but as a patient.  It's interesting to me that yoga is often suggested as a cure by non practitioners. So what are doctors really prescribing?

Perhaps doctors are digging into research on yoga and it's effects. I'd venture a guess that when they prescribe yoga, lots of doctors are really prescribing breathing and stretching.  This is actually part of the formula for calming a panic attack. 

When a person feels panicked or anxious, the sympathetic side of your nervous system is hard at work. It's pumping adrenaline out to tell your body to run from danger.  The natural remedy to combat this is to stimulate the parasympathetic side of your nervous system to increase the release of norepinephrine to calm to body. One of the fastest ways to do that is long slow deep breaths. 

As an anxiety sufferer, I can appreciate the connection between calming anxiety and asana (physical yoga).  Steady breath is essential to asana and fighting anxiety.  It works in the super short term, in the moment.

Rather than focusing solely on the positive sort-term benefits of breathing and stretching, let's think about long-term benefits of the physical and spiritual practice.  The real relief from anxiety comes, not from the short term flood of norepinephrine, but from building a life of mindfulness.  

Presence in the moment is key to managing anxiety. Presence in the moment is mindfulness.  In his book, Meditations From the Mat, Rolf Gates said, "We are not meant to be on the edge of our seats, anxiously paying attention so we can control outcomes and events. We are meant to stand firmly in the postures of our lives, bearing witness to the moment, to our experience of the moment, aware as we do..."  The challenge of being mindful is to just be and let it happen.  Whatever it is.  Understanding that we have no control over it. 

To a certain extent, we have a similar challenge in asana practice.  Once you are familiar with the poses and language of yoga instruction, you have another opportunity to practice mindfulness in a slightly different way.  Even during a practice where effort is involved, you must also keep your focus on being aware of your body and being present with it. We learn to find the posture, observe and lean without trying to push too hard. We learn not to force, but to spend energy in the way that's needed at that moment.

The real anti-anxiety benefit of yoga is learning how to take these anxiety diminishing practice off the mat.  To marry the breath with the movement in our daily lives and to learn how to observe and be without undue effort.