Therapeutic Yoga Counseling for Cognitive and Mental Health Issues
People are starting to lose a sense of their own ‘self’, their worth, and are feeling plagued by feelings of inadequacy. The way out of this mental trap is by realizing who you truly are, which is a main component of therapeutic yoga counseling. For the purpose of this article, the word yoga or therapeutic yoga counseling will encompass restorative yoga asanas, breath techniques, mindfulness and meditation.
Therapeutic yoga counseling treats the mind and body simultaneously. It also treats that indescribable part of us that exists beyond the mind and body: our spirit, or vital essence. Yoga is a Sanskrit word that literally means “yoke”. The practice of yoga is the practice of yoking together or unifying body and mind (Forbes, 2011). The body does not just react to what the mind is thinking, it also feeds back emotional information into the brain that can then end up enhancing fears, worries and general overall angst and unhappiness. Integrating the body-based and philosophical methods of yoga to treat emotional imbalances has a profound effect on mental, physical, and emotional well-being for people.
Those that suffer from anxiety, depression and trauma can especially benefit from therapeutic yoga counseling. Through specific yoga asanas and breath work, symptoms of anxiety and depression can lessen when the work is practiced. Anxiety and depression cannot survive when oxygen rich blood fill our cells (Brilliance, 2000). So how does breath work and a restorative yoga practice help balance our emotions? Our breath changes with our moods, short and shallow when we’re tense or angry, faster when we’re excited, slow and full when we’re happy, and almost disappearing when we’re afraid. It’s there with us all the time. It can be used as a tool, like an anchor, to bring stability to the body and mind when we deliberately choose to become aware of it. We can tune into it at any moment during everyday life. In therapeutic yoga counseling clients get to know their breath, moment by moment. They are not to control it in any way at all, simply notice how it changes each breath and each moment. The only thing necessary when investigating your breath is to observe, watch, and feel the breath with a sense of interest, in a relaxed manner. Restorative yoga and breathing, as tools, help ground individuals and allow them to be more aware and in tune with their bodies and minds, more relaxed, and more grounded in the present moment, which are all key elements to emotional balance and well-being.
Furthermore, mindfulness and meditation are other components of yoga that can enhance the lives of those dealing with cognitive or mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and trauma. Mindfulness is defined as, “the awareness that arises from paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally, to things as they are” (Williams et al., 2011, p.5). Most of us are stuck remembering the past or anticipating the future. Rarely are we living in the present moment, where we are actually living and breathing. When we think about the past we create symptoms of depression and when we worry or fear the future we create symptoms of anxiety. When we are in either end of the spectrum of thought, painful emotions are usually triggered in us.
As we start to focus on being more aware of the present moment, we won’t be living in the past, and re-living the trauma, or living in the future anticipating what’s going to happen. Mindfulness helps to prevent the painful emotions from coming up by helping us to be aware of when we’re living in the past or the future. This increased awareness means we’ll be quicker to catch this type of thinking when it starts, so we can do something to prevent ourselves from getting caught up in it.
Through mindfulness and meditation other components that will increase are memory and concentration. When we are in the present moment, we are fully engaged in whatever activity we are doing in that moment. Because we are bringing our minds with us, we retain much more detail about the experience than we would otherwise. When we live more in the present moment there is less pain. Mindfulness also helps with controlling behaviours. Every emotion has an action, which is often habitual and unhelpful. When we become more aware of our thoughts that trigger an emotion we can then start to choose how to respond to situations rather than react. Being more mindful to our thoughts and our emotions means we will be aware of them as they arise, giving us time to engage in problem-solving behavior, and increasing our ability to resist the urge.
As one might start to notice when dealing with overall well-being, therapeutic yoga counseling can have a profound impact. Integrating yoga into counseling to deal with cognitive or mental health issues helps create a foundational framework for internal awareness. Yoga is an extraordinary method of mind-body medicine and paired with cognitive therapy helps build and create new patterns.
Breanna Coates
Breanna Coates