Althugh people often think about yoga as being helpful to the physical body, it has much wider benefits. Ancient texts define yoga as the calming of the fluctations of the mind (“chitta vritti nirodhah’). This article from the Minded Instititute looks at modern reearch on the therapeutic effects of yoga on anxiety and depression
The most common neurotic disorders in the United Kingdom are anxiety and depression, with one in six adults having been found to experience such presentations in any given week in the UK (Office for National Statistics, 1995). Anxiety is a normal response to stress or danger and manifests as the arousal of the sympathetic (‘fight or flight’) nervous system, which involves adrenalin being pumped quickly through the body to enable it to cope with any impending catastrophe. Problems arise, however, when this response is out of proportion to the level of actual danger present in the situation or, indeed, if no true danger is present. The physical symptoms of anxiety can include a rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, a tight chest, nausea, the urge to pass urine or empty bowels, tremors, and sweating to name just a few. Psychologically, a person with anxiety may experience tension, agitation, a sense of…
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