As your source for holistic health and wellness in the Jacksonville area, The Yoga Den is constantly looking for new ways that modalities like yoga, acupuncture, massage, and cupping can be put to use to help you look and feel your best.
While many people seek yoga classes because they want to lose weight, build strength, and achieve greater flexibility, these physical benefits of yoga aren’t the only way its practice can contribute to your overall health and wellness.
You may be surprised to learn that yoga can also be used to fight back against negative mental health issues like depression and anxiety. In a 2014 study, Japanese researchers found that yoga students were able to see significant improvements in their anxiety, depression, anger, and chronic fatigue after just 12 weeks of yoga classes!
Keep reading to learn more about how yoga can contribute to positive health and wellness, then contact The Yoga Den in Jacksonville to sign up for yoga classes in your area today!
How Does Yoga Help With Depression?
Before we get into our discussion of which yoga poses are best for fighting back against depression, let’s take a closer look at why and how yoga contributes to our health and wellness in this important way.
“Asana practice helps counteract anxiety-driven depression because it reduces stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, inducing what’s known as the relaxation response,” writes Andrea Ferretti for Yoga Journal. “Once the relaxation response kicks in, many people feel that instead of trying to escape their feelings, they can stay with them, which is essential to identifying the psychological factors that trigger their anxiety and depression. But the path to getting to this relaxed place varies by individual.”
The last part of that excerpt is important to remember, lest you get bogged down in the fact that the yoga poses that helped your friend find relief from depression don’t work for you immediately. The style of yoga and the exact yoga poses that help with your depression can only be discovered by trying different practice styles and seeing what works for you. That’s why The Yoga Den offers 11 different types of yoga classes across our multiple locations in the Jacksonville area.
Five Easy Yoga Poses That Fight Depression
All of the yoga poses that we’ve listed below are easy enough for a beginner while still providing deep health and wellness benefits to even the most experienced yogi. It’s always important to keep a treasure trove of well-loved, familiar yoga poses in your back pocket so that you can turn to them when your depression and/or anxiety threatens to overwhelm your emotions.
Each one of these very easy yoga poses can be performed just about anywhere you have the space to lie completely flat on the floor, and requires no equipment besides your body and a willing mind.
- Bridge Pose
- Wide-Legged Forward Bend
- Upward Facing Dog
- Head-To Knee
- Corpse Pose
Want to learn how to do all of these yoga poses and more? Contact the Yoga Den today to sign up for yoga classes. Don’t forget, the first one is FREE!
Looking For Natural Depression Relief? Visit Our Health & Wellness Center!
Although we highly recommend yoga as a way to fight back against mental health issues like depression and anxiety, it’s not the only way that we can help you to achieve a more peaceful and fulfilling life. Contact us to learn more now.
