The mental health benefits of yoga are plentiful, which include stress reduction, relief from anxiety and depression, improving sleep quality, and enhancing overall well-being and quality of life.

There are many promising therapeutic modalities that incorporate philosophies and practice from yoga that can address mental health disorders, especially somatic and mindfulness based therapies.

It is always best to get guidance from your health care provider about what therapies may be best to address your specific mental health concerns. 

In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, he says “Yoga Chitta Vritta Nirodhah”, which translated means “Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind”. So many people struggle with symptoms of anxiety, like overwhelm, difficulty relaxing and invasive worries.

Yoga offers tools to address the mind and body impacts of anxiety by creating mindful awareness of our own patterns, called Samskara. With increased awareness we are able to compassionately soften the impacts of on going anxiety.

Yes! Yoga can be very effective at helping manage stress. Similar to how yoga helps with anxiety, the practices of yoga, including mindful movement (asana), breathing (pranayama) and meditation have all shown to have benefits for reducing the experience of stress. 

Polyvagal Theory is the understanding of how our autonomic nervous systems work, including the interpersonal neurobiology and function of the vagus nerve in how our systems respond to threat and safety. We will be learning more about the connection between our nervous system and how the practices of yoga are able help us to feel more connected with ourselves, others and reduce the impact of stress and anxiety.

While we can find varied responses for the optimal frequency to practice yoga for mental health benefits, what we know through psychological studies on change is that regular practice increases our ability to develop new patterns and awareness. The frequency and duration of practice may depend in your unique needs and current state of your life.

Please wear comfortable clothes that are easy to move in. You can expect a mix of group discussion, experiential practices and time for reflection. You may also want to bring paper or a journal if you like to take notes.