When most people think of yoga, the physical postures are the first to come to mind. They see the students bending, folding, twisting, and balancing and assume that yoga is an exercise intended to benefit the body.
While these postures are beneficial, they serve a greater purpose — one key aspect of yoga that is often overlooked: the mind.
Yoga has long been known to offer several mental health benefits, from reducing stress and anxiety to improving cognitive function and memory. If you’ve ever been curious about why it’s not just your body that feels so good when you practice yoga, here’s some insight into what’s unraveling in your mind each time you roll out your mat.
Yoga enhances clarity and calmness.
Yoga enhances clarity and calmness by teaching you how to focus on the present moment. When we’re constantly living in our heads, it’s easy to get caught up in worry, stress, and negative thinking.
You learn how to quiet the mind and focus on the present through yoga’s combination of physical movement, breath work, and meditation. This newfound awareness carries off the mat and into your everyday life, helping you to manage stress and anxiety more effectively.
Yoga increases body awareness.
One of the first things you develop in yoga is a connection between your breath and movement. As you become more aware of your breath, you also cultivate awareness of how your body feels in each pose. This enhanced mind-body connection helps promote spatial awareness and prevent injuries as you learn to listen to your body’s cues and better understand its limits.
Yoga relieves chronic stress patterns.
Unfortunately, in today’s fast-paced world, many of us live in a state of chronic stress, which can lead to health issues like high blood pressure, insomnia, anxiety, and depression. Thankfully, the mind-body connection that yoga creates also helps to break the cycle of chronic stress.
Yoga is the practice of using our physical bodies as instruments to gain, receive, or let go of whatever we set our minds to. Although, in most cases, we all find relaxation, even if it’s not necessarily the reason we practice or the goal we seek.
With each heart-opening or back-bending posture or detoxifying twist, we release physical tension, reliving mental buildup and pressure with it. We create space for what serves us through intentional movement and opening up of the physical body.
Through building strength and flexibility, we train and empower our minds to let go of the rest – such as the negativity from others or the false narratives we tell ourselves. Yoga helps us learn to use our body as a tool to be mindful and present, so we can turn off the autopilot switch and choose whether or not we want feelings like stress to guide us through our days.
Yoga relaxes the mind.
Yoga provides us with an opportunity to slow down, connect with our bodies, and notice how we’re feeling both physically and emotionally. When we become more aware of how our bodies feel, it’s easier to catch stress and anxiety before they become larger issues.
Additionally, the breath work cultivated in yoga helps to retrain our nervous system to respond to stress more healthfully. When you can quiet your thoughts and focus on your breath, it’s much easier to find a sense of peace and calm.
Yoga sharpens concentration.
The ability to focus and concentrate is another important aspect of yoga that often gets overlooked. By teaching you how to quiet the mind and focus on your breath, yoga helps to sharpen your concentration. This improved focus can carry off the mat and into your everyday life, helping you be more mindful, disciplined, and efficient in everything you do.
Yoga centers attention.
Every moment on your yoga mat is an opportunity to ground yourself in the present and just be with your body and breath.
When you’re constantly bombarded with stimuli in life, it’s tough to focus on anything else. But when your mental chatter starts to gain momentum, yoga can be a guide that brings you back to the moment.
The ultimate goal of yoga for the mind is not to never have thoughts that steal your attention. Instead, it is to learn how to decipher which thoughts are worthy of your energy and how to bring your focus back when the unwelcome ones aim to carry you away.
So, the next time you step onto your mat, remember that you’re not just doing it for the physical benefits. You’re also giving your mind a chance to reset, relax, and recharge. And that’s something we could all use a little more of in our lives.
TMS
by Deb (age 64)
Category: generalThe hoops I jumped through in order to be evaluated were straightforward and efficient. I met with PA Kaitlin for about an hour to discuss my history and previous medications. Then Dr. Amato joined us to further discuss my history, the TMS treatment, and answer any questions. Myrna gathered all of the information and submitted it to my health insurance company to request coverage for TMS. Fortunately, insurance approved the treatment and I was able to begin the next week. I’m sure most people have anxiety about starting a treatment like TMS. No matter how many times it’s described to you, there are many unknowns. How will I feel during treatment? Is it painful? What if this doesn’t work? What if it works for a while but then stops? In all honesty, I was very uncomfortable during the first couple of weeks of treatment. The alternating two seconds of tapping sensation caused some pain during treatment, and at the end of the first week I thought about quitting. But I had sworn to myself that TMS was a last resort and I HAD TO complete the treatment and give it a chance to work. My technician, Heather, told me that some people don’t feel the tapping at all, they only hear it. Guess I wasn’t one of those people! But as the days went by, it became easier to tolerate the treatments. During this time I also saw Lauren weekly for CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy). This is highly recommended for people undergoing TMS treatment, and it was a positive complement to my total of 100 minutes each week “under the helmet”. The weekend between weeks three and four, I started to notice subtle improvements in my mood, increased belief in my self-worth, and enthusiasm for simple things like going for walks, meeting friends for lunch, and taking on volunteer work in the community. I hesitated at first to believe that TMS was helping me. I was afraid that I was convincing myself it was working because I so desperately wanted it to! But now that I am past the treatment I can say with cert
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by Barbie (age 68)
Category: generalI feel so blessed to participate in the TMS protocol at MT Psychiatry. After struggling so many years with depression and not getting significant results from medication, particularly of late, I noticed positive results in the first two weeks of treatment. TMS can literally give you back the beauty & joy in living as well as the courage to make positive life changes and improvements in your daily living situation. I heartily encourage anyone to put yourself into the hands of the amazing TMS team who so gently and graciously make this journey with you out of the black hole that is depression. It is my honor and privilege to give the TMS treatment the highest recommendation.
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by Shayne (age 66)
Category: generalI am grateful for the support and caring I have received from Dr. Amato (and Heidi, Heather and Myrna) in my quest for mental health and a fuller more productive life. While the TMS results have been subtle, I feel more positive about my future and I would recommend this team absolutely. Thank you!
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by Carrie (age 65)
Category: generalNot realizing how fuzzy my head was, I thought I was only going through severe anxiety and depression. Through the insight of Pat, I was able to go through TMS treatments which brought down the anxiety and depression immensely and has cleared up the fuzzy, far off substantially. All the personnel treated me with kindness and I’m sure their attitudes helped in my recovery.
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by Bridget (age 47)
Category: generalThe first outcome of TMS I noted happened early in my treatment, at about the beginning of week two. I felt as though my “brain fog” had been chipped away. I wish I could report that I feel my mental health issues are in “remission”, but I can’t do so yet. My hope is that I will see improvement in the weeks to come, now that my TMS cycle has ended. I can say that my brain feels – in some way – different; I can’t explain exactly how. I continue to struggle at this point in time but sill have hope for more improvement.
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