By Erica Harris
In a few months we will once agin be looking out our windows to notice a clean white blanket of snow neatly laid on the earth. The first snowfall seems like an exciting novelty: my husband and I run around the house seeing if we can guess how many inches of snow there is. A few weeks pass, the novelty may have worn off, and some find themselves feeling blue. Some people describe this as seasonal depression, since the winter months keeps more people indoors and away from their regular activities. Reason number #101 to do yoga is to fight depression. Depression is an unusual state: starting gradual, then sudden. Some people experience mild forms such as with seasonal depression, and others live with depression for months, or years at a time. Depression is stereotypically pronounced more in women, since women usually seek help for depression or vocalize their physiological state more with others. However, this does not mean men are immune. Some doctors believe depression can be inherited or be cause by imbalance in the brain due to outside variables such as stress. There are signs of depression, that if lasting more than a month, or that seem to just not go away, it may be time to let your doctor know. Some of these signs are:
Sleeping too much or difficulty sleeping.
Difficulty concentrating, especially on activities that used to be easy.
Feeling hopeless or helpless
Negative thoughts consume your thought process, no matter how much you try to rid them.
You have lost your appetite or you can’t stop eating.
You become much more irritable and short-tempered (perhaps friends and family have noticed this).
You have thoughts that life is not worth living, or even contemplating ending it yourself (seek help immediately if this is the case).* If you feel like you need someone to talk to or just to listen, contact your local crisis line. For Tompkins County you can call 607-272-1616 day or night.
Yoga for the Body
Here are some practical yoga poses you can do to feel more energy and feel happier. Please note that there are some contradictions for these poses. If you have any neck, shoulder, or back injuries, modify as needed. Before starting any excerise plan consult your doctor. You can learn how to do these poses by searching for them by name or by visiting a local yoga instructor.
Downward-Facing Dog: the benefits of this pose is promoting blood flow, arm strengthening, and hamstring stretch.
Legs-Up-The-Wall: the benefits of this pose is promoting blood flow, increase energy, quiets the mind, stimulates the thyroid, and releases the back.
Bow Pose-the benefits of this pose is strengthening the back, reducing lower back pain, strengthening the shoulders, promoting digestion, and elevated mind.
Fish Pose-the benefits of this pose is elevated mind, stimulated the thyroid, straightens the shoulders, breaks up congestion, relief for allergies, and openness through the chest and nasal passageways.
Child’s Pose-the benefits for this pose is promoting calmness, peacefulness, stretching the lower back and arms.
Warrior I & II-the benefits of this pose is the sense of powerfulness, grounding, gaining balance and equilibrium both mentally and physically.
Yoga for the Mind
Yoga helps some of these symptoms of the winter time blues, depression, or just general stress. Excerise releases feel-good endorphins or can even promote balance in serotonin levels. When serotonin levels are out of balance a person can experience fatigue, irritability, and just overall ‘blah’ feeling. Another aspect in yoga that is reconditioned is in the mind. Our mind is so powerful and influential. Many times we feed our mind negativity, “I’ll never be good enough to get that promotion”, “I’m too fat and I should just give up”, and many more negative (and even untrue) thoughts we give yourselves. Yoga encourages positive thinking and mantras (also known as affirmations). A mantra is something positive we tell ourselves. In the previous examples its simple, just make our statements positive: “I am an excellent employee and I will get the next upcoming promotion”, “I’m motivated to loose weight so that I can be healthy and feel great”.
For more information of this subject and for some practical yoga poses you can try: www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/2562
Erica Harris has been practicing yoga for 5 years. If you have a question for me I can be reached at mrs.ericaharris@gmail.com. For past “Confessions of a Yoga Instructor” check out my blog: http://EricaHarrisYoga.blogspot.com
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