The term ‘Mental Health Yoga’ is quite broad, encompassing a wide range of specialism and techniques. The basic principle, however, is fairly constant through all the different approaches. Mental Health Yoga uses the physical elements of traditional yoga practice – posture, exercise, stretching and breathing – with an additional ‘layer’ of more psychological exploration.
Regular yoga practice is thought to be greatly beneficial to our mental wellbeing. Some people find yoga to be hugely helpful for things like stress relief, decreasing anxiety and depression levels and enhancing sleep. It is thought these effects are achieved through increased serotonin levels (through the physical exercise & breathing); increased oxygen levels (primarily through the breathing techniques); increased stamina (through exercises and holding postures) and generally through increased physical health (eg stronger muscles, reduced heart rate, lower blood pressure etc).
Mental Health Yoga focuses on the psychological nature of yoga, and uses this ‘angle’ as a tool to help people explore the relationship between the mind and body. Emotions and sensations held within our body might be more easily recognised, identified and understood through the lens of yoga and breathing techniques, for example.
Mental Health Yoga is often used when dealing with trauma, where specialist yoga techniques are used to help balance the central nervous system, reduce trauma triggers and increase distress tolerance. Trauma specialist yoga is focused on a core idea of grounding, which has proven particularly useful for clients with PTSD symptoms.