A Sahaja Yoga student narrates his story on how he quit drugs using Sahaja Yoga - E.S.,1/1/1999
More testimonials can be read at http://www.sahajayoga.org/Testimonials/
I am a forty-one year old artist who lives and works in Austria. My wife and I have a successful art work-shop in Vienna. We have a very strong, healthy son in his seventh year who also keeps us very busy. We have dear and gracious friends in many countries all over the world. Every day we discover new sources of joy and inspiration which we love to share with everyone we meet. We are Sahaja Yogis, individuals who have, by the grace of H.H.Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, achieved the breakthrough to Mother Nature's highest and most sought after blessing: SelfRealisation; Sahaja Yoga; Second Birth; Union of the individual awareness with the all-pervading Source of beauty and joy. Since experiencing this essential transformation seventeen years ago, I have been living a completely new life filled with the dignity, compassion and fulfillment which could only manifest through actual enlightenment.
I was born into a large family in a city in Canada. My parents were then chronik alcoholics and most of my memories, which reach back as far as my third year, are dark and fearful. Myself and two younger brothers were raised mostly by our older sisters. Our parents often fought. When my father left the family he was replaced by a man who I deeply feared as he treated us harshly and sometimes beat my mother. Twice, as a small child, I badly broke my right elbow. The second break was so severe that I almost lost my arm. My mother was not there that time to comfort me as she was being kept in a mental hospital, withdrawing from alcohol addiction.
Throughout my early school years I used to pray from my heart that I could live without fearing people. I was always drawn into the company of trouble-makers and began stealing at the age of seven.
When I was fourteen, my father, who had returned to us for five joyful and prosperous years, began drinking again and divoriced my mother. This is when my indulgence into alcohol and drugs, including cokaine and LSD, began. I was just fifteen years old when I took a massive over-dose of LSD and went temporarily insane; I would say, became possessed. For two weeks after this hellish experience I was in a dream-like depression. My personality changed and I often went out on weekends with bizzare clothes and painted face. Eight months after this fall I stumbled into another selfdestructive trap: I was seduced into a cunning organisation that brain-washes its members, taking their money and destroying their mental and physical health. It was called Transcendental Meditation.
In the following eight years I became more and more tangled in selfdoubt and antisocial sentiments. I lacked all normal motivation for pursuing a productive life. I sought escape from my numbness and frustration in drugs, alcohol and parties. I was always watched carefully by the police because of my illegal activities, and lived in fear of them. I could not relate to normal, productive adults and saw them as strange and frivilous. I spent my time with younger people who admired my wild lifestyle. I reached the age of twenty four with no professional qualifications; no position in society; no confidence; and little hope of fulfilling the countless desires which haunted me. I desperately wanted to know myself; to feel the joy and love of nature which sometimes overwhelmed me in my child-hood. But I found only noise and heaviness within.
One morning a friend of mine came over. I thought he wanted to buy some drugs but he said he had found something important. I knew him as a dull and lethargic person but now his eyes were shining with enthusiasm and delight. He asked if I would come to meet some special people. I insisted that Sunday is the best day to party and that I wanted to get drunk and go to the beach. At his insistence I agreed to attend a meeting on the following Tuesday. I was then completely unaware that it would become the single most precious day of my life.
The experience which I had during that first real meditation was quite vague. I had just begun to become aware of just how much I had ruined my delicate nervoussystem. Gradually, as the days and weeks passed, I was realising that my fears and habits were fading away. The urge for intoxication was loosing its hold on me. A definite peace and clarity was growing inside of me. I moved away from my circle of crazy friends and a lifestyle which felt like deadweight over me. Small changes in my health came to my attention. After many years of suffering from painful hemmorhoids, this problem disappeared. My hair suddenly stopped falling out and later grew in again. Psycologically I became more secure. Nightmares about losing my eyesight and being possessed by demons did not come anymore. I slept deeply and awoke fresh. Even my eyesight improved, to a level above normal ( 105% ).
My parents were deeply impressed, especially when I had my beard and long hair cut and started wearing attractive clothes. The subtle, cool, pure vibrations which I began to feel and direct for my own better-ment and that of others, had a noticable effect on many. My mother suffered from emotional depression and even relapsed into alcohol and drug use. For nine months I did not see her, but often applied myself to directing these purifying vibrations to her. When I contacted her again she was like a new person. For the first time in about ten years she was rising early from bed each day, and even had a job caring for small children.
Another person who was astonished to see this change in me was a police detective who had watched me for many years in my home municipality. I happened to meet him one day, and he just congratulated me again and again. I think it gave him great hope.
By chance, or by divine intervention, my first fulltime job was a position with the city police department as a communityworker in an anti-theft campaign. I continued with similar work until, perhaps again through divine intervention, I married and moved to Vienna where my dreams to become a successful artist have been fulfilled.
In these few years I have met countless individuals from all walks of life from London to Calcutta and from Moscow to Los Angeles who have lived this miraculous metamorphisis and are using this natural power to transform others. It is my sincerest desire that anyone who reads these words will not judge the message mentally but will make an honest, scientific investigation into the historic subject which now faces them. If their desire is pure and their determination for revealing the truth is undaunted, I have no doubt that they will also achieve this magnificent inner-awakening which is dawning to the human-race.
Showing posts with label Real Story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Real Story. Show all posts
Friday, January 16, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
"I beat anxiety with yoga."
One woman's triumph over depression, a breast-cancer scare and infidelity
In the middle of a March afternoon, Geneviève Charette suddenly found herself struggling to breathe. The Montreal-based consultant was due to start a new contract the next day. Gasping for air, she waited for her husband to come home to watch their two young sons before heading to the walk-in clinic. The diagnosis? A panic attack.
That was ten years ago, and it marked the beginning of a rollercoaster of panic attacks and depression that even antidepressants and talk therapy couldn’t stop. Circumstances weren’t helping: in 2004, a business venture with two friends began to crumble, and the strains in her marriage turned into giant cracks. “I was crying all the time. I felt so lonely, and I couldn’t talk about it,” says the 41-year-old. “I hid it from everyone.”
The breaking point
In addition to the turmoil in her personal and business life, a cancer screening in 2005 revealed cysts in her breast. A terrifying five weeks passed before they were determined benign. “That was an awakening,” says Charette. “Luckily, I was OK—but I needed to take control of the things that were making me unhappy.”
The challenge
To find a healthy way to take control of her constant worry and anxiety.
The plan
Twice-weekly yoga sessions in a friend’s living room studio. (Charette didn’t want to start with a large, intimidating class.) A few months ago, she also joined Weight Watchers to shed the 35 pounds she’s put on during her separation.
The biggest obstacle
At Christmas 2006, Charette discovered her husband was having an affair. “I was having panic attacks about how to support myself and my boys.”
The results
Within a month of starting yoga with friends, she stopped having panic attacks, and she recently dropped 11 pounds off her frame. With a newfound sense of control over her life, Charette re-entered the work world, taking on a part-time role as executive director of the Anxiety Disorders Association of Canada in Montreal. “It’s so rewarding, and most important, it’s helped me realize I am not alone.”
The tips
- Be bad at something. Charette didn’t love yoga at first. “Because I had knee and shoulder problems, I couldn’t do certain yoga movements and I felt inadequate.” She pushed past her need to excel and focused on getting better, one session at a time.
- Talk it out. “I’m fortunate to a have an amazing group of girlfriends who support me. I had hid my depression from them for years. Now I have a standing breakfast date with them every Friday morning. It really helps, knowing that when I walk into the restaurant, there’s someone waiting there to spill my guts to.”
- Make space for yourself. “My yoga mat is my little piece of heaven. Just to take an hour and half for myself and relax and shut out the outside world is what helps me keep it together in the day.”
After the fall ...
A young woman makes an astonishing comeback through Bikram Yoga after suffering from a parachuting accident !
911 was called and fellow jumpers were on the scene almost immediately. I traveled half way to the hospital via ambulance but where most of my bones came out of the skin when they broke I had lost a lot of blood, they had to have a helicopter come meet us to get me to the OR. (Ironically enough, it's ALWAYS been a dream of mine to do a Skydive from a Heli….but that's another story.)
So, I was rushed in for surgery with 2 broken legs (Tib, Fib and Femur), broken hips, pelvis and I had lost my left (dominant) arm. I also had a big cut on my forehead….oh, and the small things like broken toes and fingers and 2 black eyes. Ken, I was in hard shape buddy!! (LOL)
The medical team on call that day in Hawaii were amazing! I didn't lose consciousness once from the time I thundered in 'til I arrived at the hospital in Honolulu, I even told the surgeons to make sure I was under and to do a good job. (LOL) I thought I had lost my left eye because the skin was folded down over and I couldn't see. I had been asking people what my face looked like but no one would tell me. I had no idea how salvageable my arm was, or the severity of my legs.
I will never forget the feeling of hearing from my Orthopedic Surgeon say that (although it would most likely be with the use of a walker or a cane for the rest of my life) I would walk again. I was within millimeter's of doing spinal damage that would have left me paralyzed from the waist down. My Rehabilitation has been remarkably fast and my surgeon's are still amazed at my ability to "bounce back" (No pun….ha ha!!) I know there are many factors that have helped with the healing process: love and prayer's, my family and my wonderful boyfriend Jason for being SO strong for me when I didn't have the strength, and my Bikram Yoga!! The hot Yoga I do now as my full time physio to help rehabilitate, the Yoga I will do for the rest of my life to help prevent arthritis and whatever else these rods and screws and plates might throw at me as I get older, and the Yoga I have done. There is not one doctor I've met since this accident (and there have been a lot) that doesn't look at my chart and tell me, without a doubt, that had I not been in the physical shape I was prior to the accident I would not have come away so lucky.
I still have a few more surgery's ahead, one possible hip replacement, depending on my blood supply, and I still don't have full use of my left arm due to nerve damage….that I'm sure I'll worked through though!! Everyday I can feel myself getting stronger and stronger both physically and mentally. I've never been one to think everything happens for a reason, I believe we create our own reality. I lost my mother to cancer a few years ago, she had a quote framed and when she passed away I took it from her hospital bed. It said "OUR DESTINY IS SHAPED BY OUR THOUGHTS AND OUR ACTIONS. WE CANNOT DIRECT THE WIND, BUT WE CAN ADJUST THE SAILS." And don't I know the power of wind now!! Life is short man, it can change in an instant, or the better or for the worst…..one day you could be a middle income family and the next win the lottery and be a millionaire, or, one day you could be flying through the air one minute and crashing on the freeway the next
http://www.bikramyogalangford.com/images/media/readers_digest_dec2008.pdf
Friday, July 4, 2008
Real Life Experience with Babaji
Here is an interesting site I saw in the net about personal experience of people who have met the great Babaji ...Please read this one !
Source : http://www.babaji.net/community-stories.htm
In 1989 I spent eight months in India. Most of the time with Sai Baba and at Ramana Ashram in Southern India. One day Sai Baba glanced at me and after I recovered from the shaktipa I got the message, "Go to the mountains, the Himalayas." The next day I left my wife and five year old son with Baba and took a bus and plane to Delhi, and another day's bus ride to Rishikesh.
I was just getting over dysentery and stayed there for about two weeks to build my strength. I and a new friend then took a bus to the village of Kedranath, at 6000 feet, with the intention of going to the high temple of Kedra when the path opened in a few days. It was the spring opening.
On that day we, along with dozens of other Shiva devotees, trekked the 5000 feet,13 km to the temple. By the time I reached the last mile I was exhausted. When the temple appeared over the horizon I received a bolt of energy and almost sprinted the last half mile.
We entered the small stone temple. Inside was a large monolithic rock, a Shiva lingum about 10 feet high and 5 feet across. It was worn and black with the oil from centuries of devotees hands. As I placed my hands on the lingum a column of white light came down through my crown into the Earth and I heard the words, "Your enlightenment is assured."
I knew its source. By the time we returned to our rooms that night I was sick again, but decided to move on anyway. India appears to be the place where one surrenders the body and then realizes that perfect health is less important than enlightenment.
On our way to Badrinath, another high temple, my friend and I spent the night at Tungnath. It's a small way-stop open only for a few weeks in the spring and again after the monsoons. There were only about half a dozen people at Tungnath, sellers of fruit and soft drinks to travelers. We decided to spend the night. There were no "real" lodgings and it was suggested that we could stay in a small stone hut with no doors or windows, and straw on the ground. This was great.
The next morning we were eating some of the staples from our backpacks when a young man walked out of the woods. He was about 20, in ragged clothing and no shoes. He went over to the locals and just stood in front of them saying nothing but not begging. They shooed him away and he come over to us and did the same. My first thought was to offer him money and I presented a few rupees. He motioned with his hand that he did not want them. We then realized that he was retarded, or at least suffering from some severe mental disability. We were stuck as to why he was there. He then made some motion, I don't remember exactly what, which indicated that he wanted clothing. I reached into my backpack and pulled out a spare pair of pants and a rather used shirt and handed them to him. He nodded, turned and walked back into the woods.
I had been fascinated by Babaji the Immortal from the "Autobiography" for years. In fact it was in my mind when I left Sai Baba that I would look for him, but the Shiva temple seemed to be the priority. I felt at the time that it may have been that Babaji. In the ensuing years my suspicions have grown stronger, along with my intuition and now I truly believe that it was him. I still ponder over the meaning of our meeting.
We never got to Badranath and later that day climbed another 1000 feet to the Tungnath Temple where we spent a week in similar lodgings, doing yoga in an open field of flowers surrounded at times by hummingbirds the size of bumble bees. This place is far enough North that the temple looks like a blending of India and Tibet. The mountains there are riddled with foot thick veins of quartz crystal and there is an ancient 15 foot wide stone road which apparently connects all of the four Indian high temples and spans over a hundred miles of the Himalayas. We climbed another several hundred feet and stood on a knoll covered with stacks of rocks honoring Shiva which had been left by previous pilgrims. From that place there is a 180 degree panorama of the Himalayas of India and into Tibet.
Returning to Delhi, and eventually to Sai Baba, was returning from a place that really defies complete description.
Robin Irelan
Source : http://www.babaji.net/community-stories.htm
In 1989 I spent eight months in India. Most of the time with Sai Baba and at Ramana Ashram in Southern India. One day Sai Baba glanced at me and after I recovered from the shaktipa I got the message, "Go to the mountains, the Himalayas." The next day I left my wife and five year old son with Baba and took a bus and plane to Delhi, and another day's bus ride to Rishikesh.
I was just getting over dysentery and stayed there for about two weeks to build my strength. I and a new friend then took a bus to the village of Kedranath, at 6000 feet, with the intention of going to the high temple of Kedra when the path opened in a few days. It was the spring opening.
On that day we, along with dozens of other Shiva devotees, trekked the 5000 feet,13 km to the temple. By the time I reached the last mile I was exhausted. When the temple appeared over the horizon I received a bolt of energy and almost sprinted the last half mile.
We entered the small stone temple. Inside was a large monolithic rock, a Shiva lingum about 10 feet high and 5 feet across. It was worn and black with the oil from centuries of devotees hands. As I placed my hands on the lingum a column of white light came down through my crown into the Earth and I heard the words, "Your enlightenment is assured."
I knew its source. By the time we returned to our rooms that night I was sick again, but decided to move on anyway. India appears to be the place where one surrenders the body and then realizes that perfect health is less important than enlightenment.
On our way to Badrinath, another high temple, my friend and I spent the night at Tungnath. It's a small way-stop open only for a few weeks in the spring and again after the monsoons. There were only about half a dozen people at Tungnath, sellers of fruit and soft drinks to travelers. We decided to spend the night. There were no "real" lodgings and it was suggested that we could stay in a small stone hut with no doors or windows, and straw on the ground. This was great.
The next morning we were eating some of the staples from our backpacks when a young man walked out of the woods. He was about 20, in ragged clothing and no shoes. He went over to the locals and just stood in front of them saying nothing but not begging. They shooed him away and he come over to us and did the same. My first thought was to offer him money and I presented a few rupees. He motioned with his hand that he did not want them. We then realized that he was retarded, or at least suffering from some severe mental disability. We were stuck as to why he was there. He then made some motion, I don't remember exactly what, which indicated that he wanted clothing. I reached into my backpack and pulled out a spare pair of pants and a rather used shirt and handed them to him. He nodded, turned and walked back into the woods.
I had been fascinated by Babaji the Immortal from the "Autobiography" for years. In fact it was in my mind when I left Sai Baba that I would look for him, but the Shiva temple seemed to be the priority. I felt at the time that it may have been that Babaji. In the ensuing years my suspicions have grown stronger, along with my intuition and now I truly believe that it was him. I still ponder over the meaning of our meeting.
We never got to Badranath and later that day climbed another 1000 feet to the Tungnath Temple where we spent a week in similar lodgings, doing yoga in an open field of flowers surrounded at times by hummingbirds the size of bumble bees. This place is far enough North that the temple looks like a blending of India and Tibet. The mountains there are riddled with foot thick veins of quartz crystal and there is an ancient 15 foot wide stone road which apparently connects all of the four Indian high temples and spans over a hundred miles of the Himalayas. We climbed another several hundred feet and stood on a knoll covered with stacks of rocks honoring Shiva which had been left by previous pilgrims. From that place there is a 180 degree panorama of the Himalayas of India and into Tibet.
Returning to Delhi, and eventually to Sai Baba, was returning from a place that really defies complete description.
Robin Irelan
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Real life story of how Kundalini Yoga helped OCD
The following quote is a personal reflection by a female patient (age 20) that has recently undergone KY (Kundalini Yoga) therapy. Her OCD symptoms began at age 10 and her BDD [body dysmorphic disorder - obsessive concern about physical appearance] and social anxiety started at age 17. Her OCD symptoms included only obsessions - the fear of harming others, she was convinced that if she called a relative or friend on their cell phones, she would cause a car accident, or something horrific. The fear she felt "was paralyzing." Her most prevalent OCD fear came in the form of not saying the correct thing in any situation, something that left her "constantly fearful and in check of her own thoughts and words."
However, her BDD involved rituals - that of looking in a mirror, sometimes for several hours a day. She had the fear that her right eye and right side of her face were distorted. Previously to entering KY therapy, she had undergone insight-oriented psychotherapy with several therapists for approximately one year. And again, after seeing me the first time and not following through with KY treatment she again saw a therapist while away at her university.
Prior to seeing me the second time, she also started using fluoxetine hydrochloride [Prozac] for about 6 weeks, and the side effects became too severe to tolerate and she was switched to paroxetine hydrochloride [Paxil] for 3 weeks. However she found the side effects again too severe to continue. In my experience, her short-term response to KY therapy here is typical.
"I first began my work with David Shannahoff-Khalsa and the Kundalini yoga practice during Spring Break of the year 2001. The break was taken from the university I was currently attending, where I am now still enrolled as an undergraduate student. I consulted David for various reasons; the main (and most difficult) ones being anxiety (in general social situations), stress (in the competitive nature of the academics at college), and body dysmorphic disorder. I had also been previously diagnosed three years before with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and depression, both of which I was still struggling with.
"The very first session that I had with David altered my experience of anxiety, so much that the rushing of thoughts that seemed so constantly harrowing before had dissipated to a state of calm and relaxation. In addition to this, the body dysmorphic disorder I was experiencing totally disappeared for the remainder of the day. And, finally, the OCD disappeared completely and the results again lasted for the remainder of the day
"Despite the immediate advantages, though, within a week, vacation had ended and I returned to my dorm room at college, complete with roommate, and my practice suffered. I rarely found the opportunity to continue with what David had taught me, and the anxiety became a major problem in my life again. The BDD flourished, consuming nearly 2 hours per day in front of the mirror. This was extremely difficult to manage, particularly in light of the fact that my homework often took a back seat to my obsessions.
"After this period, and another painful year following that (this time with 4 other roommates, and no practice of the yoga), I finally decided in the Summer of 2002 to return to David, this time with the knowledge and certainty that I would dedicate myself to improving my state of mind.
"Before seeing David at this time, my life had completely fallen apart. Up at my university, I had decided to consult a psychologist through a program at the university, and she had suggested that I try medication. Following that advice, I later consulted a psychiatrist who prescribed Prozac for me at 20 mg a day. Even under the influence of the drug for many weeks, I was so completely anxious and depressed simultaneously, that I began to harm my self, by self-mutilating my arm. First I started with the ends of cigarettes, and then, with a razor, cutting so deep on two places on my arm that they required stitches. I also had a severely diminished interest in eating to the point that I would actually avoid two meals per day and I started losing weight and my mother began to question whether I was also becoming anorexic. It was at this point that my doctor was suggesting hospitalization to my parents that I went back to see David.
"On the first meeting, everything became manageable again. At this time I also gave up use of the medication. The yoga put me in a state of balance, and gave me peace of mind immediately. I was able to quit cigarettes, and discontinue the self-mutilation as I worked at focusing on my breath and the exercises. I also started to have a normal appetite again. This all happened within a week of meeting with David and continuing the practice. The most beneficial aspect of the experience, however, was the immediate release from anxiety, depression, and OCD, that I received upon the first meeting with him again. The continuation of the practice led to a greater state of peace and general strength that has continued up to this day."
However, her BDD involved rituals - that of looking in a mirror, sometimes for several hours a day. She had the fear that her right eye and right side of her face were distorted. Previously to entering KY therapy, she had undergone insight-oriented psychotherapy with several therapists for approximately one year. And again, after seeing me the first time and not following through with KY treatment she again saw a therapist while away at her university.
Prior to seeing me the second time, she also started using fluoxetine hydrochloride [Prozac] for about 6 weeks, and the side effects became too severe to tolerate and she was switched to paroxetine hydrochloride [Paxil] for 3 weeks. However she found the side effects again too severe to continue. In my experience, her short-term response to KY therapy here is typical.
"I first began my work with David Shannahoff-Khalsa and the Kundalini yoga practice during Spring Break of the year 2001. The break was taken from the university I was currently attending, where I am now still enrolled as an undergraduate student. I consulted David for various reasons; the main (and most difficult) ones being anxiety (in general social situations), stress (in the competitive nature of the academics at college), and body dysmorphic disorder. I had also been previously diagnosed three years before with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and depression, both of which I was still struggling with.
"The very first session that I had with David altered my experience of anxiety, so much that the rushing of thoughts that seemed so constantly harrowing before had dissipated to a state of calm and relaxation. In addition to this, the body dysmorphic disorder I was experiencing totally disappeared for the remainder of the day. And, finally, the OCD disappeared completely and the results again lasted for the remainder of the day
"Despite the immediate advantages, though, within a week, vacation had ended and I returned to my dorm room at college, complete with roommate, and my practice suffered. I rarely found the opportunity to continue with what David had taught me, and the anxiety became a major problem in my life again. The BDD flourished, consuming nearly 2 hours per day in front of the mirror. This was extremely difficult to manage, particularly in light of the fact that my homework often took a back seat to my obsessions.
"After this period, and another painful year following that (this time with 4 other roommates, and no practice of the yoga), I finally decided in the Summer of 2002 to return to David, this time with the knowledge and certainty that I would dedicate myself to improving my state of mind.
"Before seeing David at this time, my life had completely fallen apart. Up at my university, I had decided to consult a psychologist through a program at the university, and she had suggested that I try medication. Following that advice, I later consulted a psychiatrist who prescribed Prozac for me at 20 mg a day. Even under the influence of the drug for many weeks, I was so completely anxious and depressed simultaneously, that I began to harm my self, by self-mutilating my arm. First I started with the ends of cigarettes, and then, with a razor, cutting so deep on two places on my arm that they required stitches. I also had a severely diminished interest in eating to the point that I would actually avoid two meals per day and I started losing weight and my mother began to question whether I was also becoming anorexic. It was at this point that my doctor was suggesting hospitalization to my parents that I went back to see David.
"On the first meeting, everything became manageable again. At this time I also gave up use of the medication. The yoga put me in a state of balance, and gave me peace of mind immediately. I was able to quit cigarettes, and discontinue the self-mutilation as I worked at focusing on my breath and the exercises. I also started to have a normal appetite again. This all happened within a week of meeting with David and continuing the practice. The most beneficial aspect of the experience, however, was the immediate release from anxiety, depression, and OCD, that I received upon the first meeting with him again. The continuation of the practice led to a greater state of peace and general strength that has continued up to this day."
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Meditation and Yoga for Depression and Bipolar
By John McManamy Source : http://www.mcmanweb.com/
You know those cartoons where the character goes flying around the room like a balloon with the air rushing out? That's sort of what happened to my mind in 1987-88. Like an idiot I refused to seek help and nearly paid in full measure for my stupidity.
Eventually, my entire psychic being deflated on its own account and I was able to regain some control of my brain. A good deal of the credit must go to yoga and meditation, though I would never be able to prove it in court. I managed to establish a successful daily practice for three or four years before backsliding to my bad old ways. I won't say that my failure to stick to my routine brought on my latest round of depressions. But I will tell you this: I'm back on my feet again devoting a part of my day to sitting.
Meditation is a highly personal affair, and it will probably take a process of trial and error to find what works for you. My mind, for one, is like a Circuit City showroom, with TVs and VCRs and home sound systems blaring all at once from all sides, and K-mart blue light specials and beepers and police radios going off against a truckload of gongs clattering down marble steps. Filtering out even the top layer of all this racket would have been an exercise in extreme futility, so I hit upon a preliminary yoga warm-up routine, much like an athlete limbering up before attempting some really heavy lifting. Make no mistake - any exercise devoted to bringing the mind under control constitutes heavy lifting of the most extreme kind.
My Meditation-Yoga Routine
But first a little incense to set the mood, sandalwood and patchouli being my favorites. Please bear in mind that what has worked for me may not work for you.
I start off from a sitting position with some leg stretches, touching the toes - or the kneecaps, whatever - extending to whatever position is comfortable to hold for a minute or more, one leg, then the other, and back again. On the second go, my arms grow a lot longer and the toes considerably closer, and one day I'll write a masters thesis on why this is so. By now my mind is slowing just a bit and my breathing establishes a new pattern, as if I am inhaling from the seat of my pants right up through my spinal column and out the top of my head.
Then I take one foot and move it past my other knee and look the other way as the vertebrae from my neck to my tailbone pop like firecrackers, and hold the position until the ash from my incense drops to the carpet. Then I reverse body parts. By now I feel my entire thoracic cavity opening up as I literally suck up all the air in the room and expel it in one great gust.
I do a couple of spinal flexes from my stomach - with a few optional stretchers thrown in for good measure - then it's nose down and tail up for the grand finale - the head stand. The exercise is a two-way street: I am compelled to be still. At the same time, the effort stills me. Gradually, a few of the TVs and VCRs in my mind click off and go silent, and after three minutes, I'm ready for my next round of prelims.
Now, for the first time, the seat of my pants meets the seat of my floor cushion. I bend my legs into a semi-lotus position, but my back sags under the strain. But then come my breathers.
Warning: It is not advisable to begin breathing exercises without instruction or supervision.
I start - eyes closed - by forcing air out my nostrils then allow my diaphragm to expand on the intake. As I work up a good speed, my back becomes ramrod straight as if being pulled up by an invisible string from the ceiling. Then, to settle down, I breathe in through one nostril, hold my breath for a few seconds, and breathe out the other. With the open nostril I breathe back in and continue the cycle. Finally I take twenty slow breaths in and out.
I might also take in a bit of chakras and visualizations and mantras, but this is strictly optional.
Having accomplished all this, I have now achieved the benefits of an excellent workout, a sure stress-buster, and a positive deterrent to depression and mania. But I am not about to miss the big payoff, especially so close to my goal. Who knows? Just around the corner could be nothing less than the big E - enlightenment, the Boddhi tree spectacular, the Fourth of July in my head I keep hoping for, when all those TVs and VCRs and blue light specials resolve into one glorious chord that puts me in harmony with Christ and Buddha and all creation.
But I am willing to settle for much less.
Now comes what is simultaneously the simplest and most difficult activity ever devised by a living being: I attempt to shut out all other thoughts as I follow my breath in and out my nose. The ideal, according to the Buddhist monks, is to concentrate all thinking on the tip of the nose, but I am quite content to keep my thoughts confined to the immediate planet.
Fortunately, the monks have come up with a fall-back meditation: As you sit quietly you simply watch your thoughts in a detached manner, refusing to be drawn into any dialogue your mind's many TVs and VCRs may want to engage you in. When you find yourself "thinking", you simply let the thought go and resume your meditation.
Like Seinfeld, we are talking about a show about nothing. But there is far more to nothing than meets the eye. No self, no other. Who can truly say what lies beyond?
A Personal Experience
What you take away from the experience is for you and you alone. You may be content with five minutes in a chair or you may set aside a whole hour. It could be ten minutes of torture or the first time you find yourself experiencing real peace of mind. "If you're feeling better at the end, you are probably doing it right," says Roger Thomson, PhD, a Chicago psychologist and Zen meditator on mediation, quoted in an article in Psychology Today.
According to Suite101.com's Buddhism editor, Patricia Swain, describing her meditation retreats:
"For me, these peaceful days irregular and infrequent as they are, have started a process within me that, once started, takes on a life of its own and grows like a tree rooted in the cracks of a sidewalk. It's as though the meditation process is still going on in whatever I do; that the quiet noting of thoughts and distractions, the awareness of body and the roots of defilements is a constant within me, like a heartbeat.
"It is a knowing, a calm, an ability to tap into a seemingly endless source without strain. My teacher describes it as embodiment."
Meditation for Depression (and Bipolar Disorder)
But is it effective against depression? According to natural health guru Andrew Weil MD:
"[Buddhist psychology's] basic prescription is for the daily practice of meditation, and I am inclined to agree that this is the best way to get at the root of depression and change it. That requires a long-term commitment, however, since meditation does not produce fast results."
Now if you don't like the eastern flavor of meditation you can change its focus to reflect your own cultural beliefs. You can meditate on Jesus or Moses or Allah. In place of a Sanskrit mantra, you can repeat over and over: "Our Father who art in Heaven... " or "Hear, oh Israel, ...the Lord is one ...," or "There is no God but God ... "
But the beauty of yoga and meditation is that you can practice it without any of its religious trappings, whatsoever. We are talking about a show about nothing, remember? No self, no other ...
... and perhaps - no depression or mania.
Yoga for Depression
Back in 1985, Amy Weintraub’s therapist told her that, psychically, she would always have empty pockets. "And I visualized myself, like Virginia Woolf," she wrote, "filling those empty pockets with stones and stepping into the river." Instead, through yoga practice, she filled them with fresh air and divine light, and slowly pulled her way out of her chronic depression, an accomplishment that transformed her and changed her life.
Books on yoga and meditation offer us age-old insights into the nature of suffering, together with time-tested techniques to alleviate that suffering. Depression and self-help books provide a more contemporary focus. Amy’s new book, "Yoga for Depression: A Compassionate Guide to Relieve Suffering Through Yoga," proves the twain of Patanjali and psychology can meet. Amy is a Kripalu-trained senior yoga instructor and writer who has thoroughly researched depression.
"Living in this mortal body," she quotes the Buddha, "is like living in a house on fire." We suffer. "Depression," says psychologist and yogi Stephen Cope, "is the common cold of the deluded human being." Don’t take this personally - we’re all deluded, including your psychiatrist and therapist. But we’re also all divine, or at least we’re connected to the divine. Yoga is about establishing this sense of oneness. It is probably fair to say a good many people take up yoga simply as a proven stress-buster or alternative to Richard Simmons, but they may also find themselves reaping unexpected rewards, such as beatific inner calm or heightened awareness. Some also find it helps their depression.
In a UCLA study published in March 2004, 28 mildly-depressed young adults attended two one-hour yoga classes twice a week for five weeks. Midway into the course, subjects "demonstrated significant decreases in self-reported symptoms of depression and trait anxiety," which they maintained to the end. Subjects also reported decreased negative mood and fatigue following class.
What is going on in the body, says Amy, is muscular relaxation, restored natural diaphragm breathing, improved oxygen absorption and carbon monoxide elimination, and increased alpha wave activity.
Yoga is an eight-limbed path which uses postures, breathing, and meditation as both a means and an end. Back bends, which open up the chest and increase lung capacity, are especially useful for depression. So are inversions such as headstands and shoulder stands, which stimulate the brain (but which should not be attempted without the guidance of a qualified yoga instructor). Some positions are meant to be calming and others energizing. Anxious types are advised to employ calming positions while energetic positions are de rigor for those who find it hard to get out of bed. (Since reading this book, I find myself doing a short energizing routine in the early afternoon to get me through the rest of the day and a longer calming routine ending in a short meditation at night.)
Breathing exercises follow the same energizing/calming dichotomy. One reason so much emphasis is placed on the breath is that most of us have forgotten how to breathe. Instead of using the diaphragm, we use the chest, which is not as efficient since the lower portions of the lungs are not exposed to air. The yogis imbue the air we breathe with a spiritual quality called Prana (with a capital P). "When we restrict the breath," writes Amy, "we are diminishing the spirit. When we relearn to breathe fully and deeply, we are enlarging the spirit and reconnecting with the Self." She cites an Indian study that found reduced violence and disciplinary infractions in a juvenile prison population that had been practicing a specific breathing technique for eight weeks.
What may be going on, speculates Amy, is the release of the anterior pituitary ("feel good") hormones, including oxytocin, prolactin, and vasopressin.
If posture can take us into breathing, breathing can take us into meditation, which, says, Amy, "can create a calm, healing state in body and mind." Pain doesn’t go away with meditation, she advises, but through the practice of mindfulness we learn not to identify with the pain. For people with major depression, she cautions, meditation may be counter-productive at first, as depressed people tend to be stuck in their negative thoughts. Since meditation may also bring up flashbacks and bad memories, learning under a skilled instructor is strongly encouraged.
Amy’s breakthrough came in a yoga class while holding the bridge pose, suppine with pelvis and chest thrust upwards She released the posture ten minutes later to a flood of sensations and a "time-out for the rational mind, a few moments of deep rest, a glimpse of samadhi [cosmic consciousness]."
What if, she asks, that intelligent awareness of bliss is not an altered state but your natural state? "Eventually, through practice," she informs us, "those moments of samadhi expand until they are firmly established in your mind and you are living with your eyes wide open."
There goes that pesky common cold.
You know those cartoons where the character goes flying around the room like a balloon with the air rushing out? That's sort of what happened to my mind in 1987-88. Like an idiot I refused to seek help and nearly paid in full measure for my stupidity.
Eventually, my entire psychic being deflated on its own account and I was able to regain some control of my brain. A good deal of the credit must go to yoga and meditation, though I would never be able to prove it in court. I managed to establish a successful daily practice for three or four years before backsliding to my bad old ways. I won't say that my failure to stick to my routine brought on my latest round of depressions. But I will tell you this: I'm back on my feet again devoting a part of my day to sitting.
Meditation is a highly personal affair, and it will probably take a process of trial and error to find what works for you. My mind, for one, is like a Circuit City showroom, with TVs and VCRs and home sound systems blaring all at once from all sides, and K-mart blue light specials and beepers and police radios going off against a truckload of gongs clattering down marble steps. Filtering out even the top layer of all this racket would have been an exercise in extreme futility, so I hit upon a preliminary yoga warm-up routine, much like an athlete limbering up before attempting some really heavy lifting. Make no mistake - any exercise devoted to bringing the mind under control constitutes heavy lifting of the most extreme kind.
My Meditation-Yoga Routine
But first a little incense to set the mood, sandalwood and patchouli being my favorites. Please bear in mind that what has worked for me may not work for you.
I start off from a sitting position with some leg stretches, touching the toes - or the kneecaps, whatever - extending to whatever position is comfortable to hold for a minute or more, one leg, then the other, and back again. On the second go, my arms grow a lot longer and the toes considerably closer, and one day I'll write a masters thesis on why this is so. By now my mind is slowing just a bit and my breathing establishes a new pattern, as if I am inhaling from the seat of my pants right up through my spinal column and out the top of my head.
Then I take one foot and move it past my other knee and look the other way as the vertebrae from my neck to my tailbone pop like firecrackers, and hold the position until the ash from my incense drops to the carpet. Then I reverse body parts. By now I feel my entire thoracic cavity opening up as I literally suck up all the air in the room and expel it in one great gust.
I do a couple of spinal flexes from my stomach - with a few optional stretchers thrown in for good measure - then it's nose down and tail up for the grand finale - the head stand. The exercise is a two-way street: I am compelled to be still. At the same time, the effort stills me. Gradually, a few of the TVs and VCRs in my mind click off and go silent, and after three minutes, I'm ready for my next round of prelims.
Now, for the first time, the seat of my pants meets the seat of my floor cushion. I bend my legs into a semi-lotus position, but my back sags under the strain. But then come my breathers.
Warning: It is not advisable to begin breathing exercises without instruction or supervision.
I start - eyes closed - by forcing air out my nostrils then allow my diaphragm to expand on the intake. As I work up a good speed, my back becomes ramrod straight as if being pulled up by an invisible string from the ceiling. Then, to settle down, I breathe in through one nostril, hold my breath for a few seconds, and breathe out the other. With the open nostril I breathe back in and continue the cycle. Finally I take twenty slow breaths in and out.
I might also take in a bit of chakras and visualizations and mantras, but this is strictly optional.
Having accomplished all this, I have now achieved the benefits of an excellent workout, a sure stress-buster, and a positive deterrent to depression and mania. But I am not about to miss the big payoff, especially so close to my goal. Who knows? Just around the corner could be nothing less than the big E - enlightenment, the Boddhi tree spectacular, the Fourth of July in my head I keep hoping for, when all those TVs and VCRs and blue light specials resolve into one glorious chord that puts me in harmony with Christ and Buddha and all creation.
But I am willing to settle for much less.
Now comes what is simultaneously the simplest and most difficult activity ever devised by a living being: I attempt to shut out all other thoughts as I follow my breath in and out my nose. The ideal, according to the Buddhist monks, is to concentrate all thinking on the tip of the nose, but I am quite content to keep my thoughts confined to the immediate planet.
Fortunately, the monks have come up with a fall-back meditation: As you sit quietly you simply watch your thoughts in a detached manner, refusing to be drawn into any dialogue your mind's many TVs and VCRs may want to engage you in. When you find yourself "thinking", you simply let the thought go and resume your meditation.
Like Seinfeld, we are talking about a show about nothing. But there is far more to nothing than meets the eye. No self, no other. Who can truly say what lies beyond?
A Personal Experience
What you take away from the experience is for you and you alone. You may be content with five minutes in a chair or you may set aside a whole hour. It could be ten minutes of torture or the first time you find yourself experiencing real peace of mind. "If you're feeling better at the end, you are probably doing it right," says Roger Thomson, PhD, a Chicago psychologist and Zen meditator on mediation, quoted in an article in Psychology Today.
According to Suite101.com's Buddhism editor, Patricia Swain, describing her meditation retreats:
"For me, these peaceful days irregular and infrequent as they are, have started a process within me that, once started, takes on a life of its own and grows like a tree rooted in the cracks of a sidewalk. It's as though the meditation process is still going on in whatever I do; that the quiet noting of thoughts and distractions, the awareness of body and the roots of defilements is a constant within me, like a heartbeat.
"It is a knowing, a calm, an ability to tap into a seemingly endless source without strain. My teacher describes it as embodiment."
Meditation for Depression (and Bipolar Disorder)
But is it effective against depression? According to natural health guru Andrew Weil MD:
"[Buddhist psychology's] basic prescription is for the daily practice of meditation, and I am inclined to agree that this is the best way to get at the root of depression and change it. That requires a long-term commitment, however, since meditation does not produce fast results."
Now if you don't like the eastern flavor of meditation you can change its focus to reflect your own cultural beliefs. You can meditate on Jesus or Moses or Allah. In place of a Sanskrit mantra, you can repeat over and over: "Our Father who art in Heaven... " or "Hear, oh Israel, ...the Lord is one ...," or "There is no God but God ... "
But the beauty of yoga and meditation is that you can practice it without any of its religious trappings, whatsoever. We are talking about a show about nothing, remember? No self, no other ...
... and perhaps - no depression or mania.
Yoga for Depression
Back in 1985, Amy Weintraub’s therapist told her that, psychically, she would always have empty pockets. "And I visualized myself, like Virginia Woolf," she wrote, "filling those empty pockets with stones and stepping into the river." Instead, through yoga practice, she filled them with fresh air and divine light, and slowly pulled her way out of her chronic depression, an accomplishment that transformed her and changed her life.
Books on yoga and meditation offer us age-old insights into the nature of suffering, together with time-tested techniques to alleviate that suffering. Depression and self-help books provide a more contemporary focus. Amy’s new book, "Yoga for Depression: A Compassionate Guide to Relieve Suffering Through Yoga," proves the twain of Patanjali and psychology can meet. Amy is a Kripalu-trained senior yoga instructor and writer who has thoroughly researched depression.
"Living in this mortal body," she quotes the Buddha, "is like living in a house on fire." We suffer. "Depression," says psychologist and yogi Stephen Cope, "is the common cold of the deluded human being." Don’t take this personally - we’re all deluded, including your psychiatrist and therapist. But we’re also all divine, or at least we’re connected to the divine. Yoga is about establishing this sense of oneness. It is probably fair to say a good many people take up yoga simply as a proven stress-buster or alternative to Richard Simmons, but they may also find themselves reaping unexpected rewards, such as beatific inner calm or heightened awareness. Some also find it helps their depression.
In a UCLA study published in March 2004, 28 mildly-depressed young adults attended two one-hour yoga classes twice a week for five weeks. Midway into the course, subjects "demonstrated significant decreases in self-reported symptoms of depression and trait anxiety," which they maintained to the end. Subjects also reported decreased negative mood and fatigue following class.
What is going on in the body, says Amy, is muscular relaxation, restored natural diaphragm breathing, improved oxygen absorption and carbon monoxide elimination, and increased alpha wave activity.
Yoga is an eight-limbed path which uses postures, breathing, and meditation as both a means and an end. Back bends, which open up the chest and increase lung capacity, are especially useful for depression. So are inversions such as headstands and shoulder stands, which stimulate the brain (but which should not be attempted without the guidance of a qualified yoga instructor). Some positions are meant to be calming and others energizing. Anxious types are advised to employ calming positions while energetic positions are de rigor for those who find it hard to get out of bed. (Since reading this book, I find myself doing a short energizing routine in the early afternoon to get me through the rest of the day and a longer calming routine ending in a short meditation at night.)
Breathing exercises follow the same energizing/calming dichotomy. One reason so much emphasis is placed on the breath is that most of us have forgotten how to breathe. Instead of using the diaphragm, we use the chest, which is not as efficient since the lower portions of the lungs are not exposed to air. The yogis imbue the air we breathe with a spiritual quality called Prana (with a capital P). "When we restrict the breath," writes Amy, "we are diminishing the spirit. When we relearn to breathe fully and deeply, we are enlarging the spirit and reconnecting with the Self." She cites an Indian study that found reduced violence and disciplinary infractions in a juvenile prison population that had been practicing a specific breathing technique for eight weeks.
What may be going on, speculates Amy, is the release of the anterior pituitary ("feel good") hormones, including oxytocin, prolactin, and vasopressin.
If posture can take us into breathing, breathing can take us into meditation, which, says, Amy, "can create a calm, healing state in body and mind." Pain doesn’t go away with meditation, she advises, but through the practice of mindfulness we learn not to identify with the pain. For people with major depression, she cautions, meditation may be counter-productive at first, as depressed people tend to be stuck in their negative thoughts. Since meditation may also bring up flashbacks and bad memories, learning under a skilled instructor is strongly encouraged.
Amy’s breakthrough came in a yoga class while holding the bridge pose, suppine with pelvis and chest thrust upwards She released the posture ten minutes later to a flood of sensations and a "time-out for the rational mind, a few moments of deep rest, a glimpse of samadhi [cosmic consciousness]."
What if, she asks, that intelligent awareness of bliss is not an altered state but your natural state? "Eventually, through practice," she informs us, "those moments of samadhi expand until they are firmly established in your mind and you are living with your eyes wide open."
There goes that pesky common cold.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
I stand on my head for my health
I stand on my head for my health
Chris has not had a day sick for 36 years
by Benny Pedersen
For some it is a case of what you lack in your head, you must have in your legs. This does not apply to Hundested’s Chris Sylvest. He is supposedly Denmark’s best 92 year old at standing on the head. And Chris does not do it to boast of his gymnastic abilities, but to keep himself healthy!
- In the middle of the fifties I emigrated, together with my wife and two sons, to the USA. My wealthy sister had a place to live and work for us in California. And by and large it went very well. But in 1958 I was affected by something in my head. I still don’t know what it was. It was incredibly unpleasant though. My brain was affected and I got worse and worse - I was actually about to die. We were at our wit’s end. But then something happened that I would call a miracle.
We were in the USA for 14 years. During that time we read neither Danish newspapers nor magazines. But when I became ill in 1958, an old edition of Familie Journalen (The Family Journal) fell into our laps. I still don’t know where it came from. In the magazine there was an article about a watchmaker from Ålborg (a town in the north of Denmark), who had cured a violent migraine by standing on his head for 10 minutes every day. I took to the idea at once. A month and a half later I was completely cured. Since then I have stood on my head for 10 minutes every morning – and I haven’t had a day sick for 36 years. Isn’t that incredible?
Chris Sylvest gesticulates with the whole of his slender body, while telling about his health and his long, long, life.
Healthy as a 25 year old
- A few months ago I was examined from top to toe by two doctors – quite independent of each other. And they both reached the same conclusion: “Your body functions completely normally – for a man of 25!”
My own doctor, after having examined me, declared:
- Tomorrow I will begin standing on my head for 10 minutes. And I will continue to do so for the rest of my life.
- I don’t know what happens. But it obviously has something to do with a lot of blood and oxygen reaching the brain.
Chris Sylvest was left a widower 14 years ago when his wife died, after a long and beautiful life:
- My two sons, who have both been residents of the USA for many years, invited me to live with them. So I sold our large house here in Hundested and travelled over there. But it wasn’t a success. I was regarded as an old man by those around me. They wanted me to sit down and relax all the time with a rug over my legs. After 14 months I went back home to Hundested again. With only two suitcases as baggage. Everything else I left with my sons and their families.
Chris Sylvest was born on a large farm near Frederikssund in 1902, under quite dramatic circumstances:
I shouldn’t even be here. The orifice of my stomach wouldn’t open, and the doctor gave me eight days to live. But my mother wanted it otherwise. She poured some buttermilk inside me, and I got better. As an adult I earned my living as a trader in fruit and vegetables. I had a wholesale business delivering goods to military barracks and hospitals. We made a living from this till we emigrated in 1954.
It seemed inevitable that my life was going to end in 1958. But luckily Familie Journalen landed in our laps, with a recipe for a long and healthy life. Come rain or shine, Christmas or Easter, I start the day by standing on my head. Hopefully for many years to come, says Hundested’s Chris Sylvest.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Hatha Yoga - Real story of a Depression patient
Yoga: Not Just an Exercise
Yoga can help you beat depression. How hatha yoga saved the life of one manic depressive.
When Jenny Smith was 41 years old, her mental illness became so severe that she could barely walk or speak. After days of feeling wonderful one moment and hallucinating that spiders and bugs were crawling on her skin the next, she landed in the hospital.
Smith is a victim of bipolar disorder, an illness characterized by oscillating feelings of elation and utter depression. And though she had tried 11 different medications for relief, some in combination, nothing seemed to work. Upon leaving the hospital, Smith was told that she could expect to be in and out of psychiatric hospitals for the rest of her life. Soon after her release, Smith decided to learn hatha yoga, which incorporates specific postures, meditation and pranayamas, deep abdominal breathing techniques that relax the body. As she practiced daily, Smith noticed that her panic attacks—a symptom of panic disorder, a disease that some bipolar disorder sufferers also contend with—were subsiding. She has since become a certified hatha yoga instructor, and with the help of only Paxil, an antidepressant that she’d taken before without effect, Smith’s pattern of severe mood swings seems to have ended. She even taught her 11-year-old daughter—who had experienced panic attacks since age 7—the simple breathing technique of inhaling to the count of four and exhaling to the count of eight; as a result, her daughter’s panic attacks subsided.
Key to reaping hatha yoga’s mental benefits is reducing stress and anxiety. To that end, Jon Cabot-Zinn, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts, developed the Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program (SRRP), a system that emphasizes mindfulness, a meditation technique where practitioners observe their own mental process. SRRP has been the focus of several scientific studies in the last 20 years, and has been shown to significantly reduce anxiety and depression, and thus alleviate mental illness.
To date, the most persuasive evidence of the benefits of hatha yoga, and in particular pranayama, stems from research conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience in India. New studies have shown a high success rate—up to 73 percent—for treating depression with sudharshan kriya, a pranayama technique taught in the U.S. as “The Healing Breath Technique.” It involves breathing naturally through the nose, mouth closed, in three distinct rhythms.
According to Stephen Cope, a psychotherapist and author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self, hatha yoga’s postures improve mood by moving energy through places in the body where feelings of grief or anger are stored. “Hatha yoga is an accessible form of learning self-soothing,” he says. “These blocked feelings can be released very quickly, [creating a] regular, systemic experience of well-being.” Yoga students may also benefit from their relationship with the yoga instructor, Cope said, which can provide a “container” or a safe place for investigating, expressing and resolving emotional issues. The instructor’s encouraging and accepting words may also help students defeat self-limiting notions.
Not all mental health practitioners are convinced of yoga’s healing powers, but many agree it can be helpful when combined with more traditional treatments. Zindel Segal, Ph.D., a University of Toronto psychiatry professor, recently studied SRRP when used in conjunction with cognitive therapy. He asked 145 people who were at risk for depression to undergo cognitive therapy either alone or with the SRRP. Segal found that after eight weeks of treatment, those participants who received both types of therapy were much less likely to relapse into depression. “This means that people can learn about their emotions not just by writing down their thoughts, which is what cognitive therapy is all about, but also by paying attention to the way their emotions are expressed in their bodies,” he says. “Both approaches allow people to observe their experience without judgment, an important first step in stepping out of depression.”
While yoga’s therapeutic capabilities are still under scientific scrutiny, Smith isn’t waiting for more proof. Having lost her grandmother to depression—she was one of many bipolar sufferers who take their own life due to the disease—Smith is determined not to let the disorder get the best of her. Since 1994, she has practiced and taught hatha yoga to depression sufferers—passing on what she believes has literally saved her life.
Psychology Today Magazine, Nov/Dec 2000
Last Reviewed 13 Jul 2007
Article ID: 117 ——— >>>> http://psychologytoday.com/
Yoga can help you beat depression. How hatha yoga saved the life of one manic depressive.
When Jenny Smith was 41 years old, her mental illness became so severe that she could barely walk or speak. After days of feeling wonderful one moment and hallucinating that spiders and bugs were crawling on her skin the next, she landed in the hospital.
Smith is a victim of bipolar disorder, an illness characterized by oscillating feelings of elation and utter depression. And though she had tried 11 different medications for relief, some in combination, nothing seemed to work. Upon leaving the hospital, Smith was told that she could expect to be in and out of psychiatric hospitals for the rest of her life. Soon after her release, Smith decided to learn hatha yoga, which incorporates specific postures, meditation and pranayamas, deep abdominal breathing techniques that relax the body. As she practiced daily, Smith noticed that her panic attacks—a symptom of panic disorder, a disease that some bipolar disorder sufferers also contend with—were subsiding. She has since become a certified hatha yoga instructor, and with the help of only Paxil, an antidepressant that she’d taken before without effect, Smith’s pattern of severe mood swings seems to have ended. She even taught her 11-year-old daughter—who had experienced panic attacks since age 7—the simple breathing technique of inhaling to the count of four and exhaling to the count of eight; as a result, her daughter’s panic attacks subsided.
Key to reaping hatha yoga’s mental benefits is reducing stress and anxiety. To that end, Jon Cabot-Zinn, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts, developed the Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program (SRRP), a system that emphasizes mindfulness, a meditation technique where practitioners observe their own mental process. SRRP has been the focus of several scientific studies in the last 20 years, and has been shown to significantly reduce anxiety and depression, and thus alleviate mental illness.
To date, the most persuasive evidence of the benefits of hatha yoga, and in particular pranayama, stems from research conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience in India. New studies have shown a high success rate—up to 73 percent—for treating depression with sudharshan kriya, a pranayama technique taught in the U.S. as “The Healing Breath Technique.” It involves breathing naturally through the nose, mouth closed, in three distinct rhythms.
According to Stephen Cope, a psychotherapist and author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self, hatha yoga’s postures improve mood by moving energy through places in the body where feelings of grief or anger are stored. “Hatha yoga is an accessible form of learning self-soothing,” he says. “These blocked feelings can be released very quickly, [creating a] regular, systemic experience of well-being.” Yoga students may also benefit from their relationship with the yoga instructor, Cope said, which can provide a “container” or a safe place for investigating, expressing and resolving emotional issues. The instructor’s encouraging and accepting words may also help students defeat self-limiting notions.
Not all mental health practitioners are convinced of yoga’s healing powers, but many agree it can be helpful when combined with more traditional treatments. Zindel Segal, Ph.D., a University of Toronto psychiatry professor, recently studied SRRP when used in conjunction with cognitive therapy. He asked 145 people who were at risk for depression to undergo cognitive therapy either alone or with the SRRP. Segal found that after eight weeks of treatment, those participants who received both types of therapy were much less likely to relapse into depression. “This means that people can learn about their emotions not just by writing down their thoughts, which is what cognitive therapy is all about, but also by paying attention to the way their emotions are expressed in their bodies,” he says. “Both approaches allow people to observe their experience without judgment, an important first step in stepping out of depression.”
While yoga’s therapeutic capabilities are still under scientific scrutiny, Smith isn’t waiting for more proof. Having lost her grandmother to depression—she was one of many bipolar sufferers who take their own life due to the disease—Smith is determined not to let the disorder get the best of her. Since 1994, she has practiced and taught hatha yoga to depression sufferers—passing on what she believes has literally saved her life.
Psychology Today Magazine, Nov/Dec 2000
Last Reviewed 13 Jul 2007
Article ID: 117 ——— >>>> http://psychologytoday.com/
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