Yoga For Anxiety and Depression

Just what the doctor ordered: Take a yoga class and watch your depression and anxiety disappear! The benefits of Yoga are endless. Yoga is not just something that you do at the studio and leave behind. It becomes a way of life, leading to healthier habits, improved psychological health, and enhanced spiritual growth. Yoga’s psychological benefits include: lessening of anxiety, depression and stress. Yoga also can improve addictive disorders, bi polar disorders, eating disorders, insomnia and overall emotional balance. There is a growing body of research to back up yoga’s mental health benefits. Yoga increases body awareness, relieves stress, reduces muscle tension, strain, and inflammation. It sharpens attention and concentration, and calms and centers the nervous system. Also, yoga has been shown to increase the level of gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, a chemical in the brain that helps to regulate nerve activity. This is especially relevant to people who have anxiety disorders.