Yoga For Depression: International Yogi Mansi Gulati Suggests 3 Poses To Relax Your Mind

Stress arising from personal or professional life can turn into depression. International yogi Mansi Gulati suggests practicing these yoga poses to calm your anxious mind.

Outbreak of diseases, recession, unemployment, job pressure, financial issues so many things are going around right now that can steal one's peace of mind, and leave you feeling stressed, anxious and depressed. Stress arising from personal or professional life can turn into depression. Symptoms of depression can last for several months or years, and these can have negative affect on your cognitive function, emotion, behavior and quality of life. Relaxation techniques such as yoga and meditation have been proven to be beneficial in reducing depressive symptoms and helping to calm an anxious mind.

If you're feeling anxious or depressed? Mansi Gulati, international certified yogi and founder of Manasvani, suggests three yoga poses that will help you to calm down and relax. But she recommends practising these asanas under the guidance of a yoga practitioner.

Here are the yoga poses that can help you tackle depression.

Cat Pose (Marjaryasana)

• Begin this pose on all your hands and feet, and the wrists should be placed under the shoulders. The spine should be neutral.
• Don't forget to inhale while looking up and let your stomach curve toward the floor. Lift your eyes, chin, and chest up when you tend to stretch.
• Exhale, by tucking the chin into your chest, and bringing the navel to the spine.

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)

• You will have to lie on your back and then bend both knees and position your feet hip-width apart with your ankles.
• Your arms need to be flat on the floor with your palms against the ground and then you will have to spread your fingers.
• Later, try to lift the pelvic region off the ground with the torso, and keep the shoulders and head on the floor.

Child Pose (Balasana)

• You need to sit on the heels by keeping your knees on the ground.
• Spread your knees then exhale and gradually move your forehead toward the ground. But, you should not touch the ground.
• You need to stretch the arms when you lower your head and press the chest on your thighs.
• Try to be in this position for a few seconds and then relax

Health benefits of practicing yoga

Talking about the benefits of practising yoga, Mansi says, "Yoga can help to overcome anxiety, improve overall well-being, perk up one's mood, aid with blood circulation, enable better focus, increase sleep quality, and help people become more peaceful in their day-to-day lives."

"It is a no-brainer that yoga includes breathing exercises and feeling. We learn to control our reactions to events, and people via breathing and feeling. Yoga postures combined with deep breathing allow for relaxation, which helps to combat stress and make you feel happy. Yoga will help you to listen to the body, and increase your levels of Serotonin, Oxytocin, and GABA in your body Feeling 'happy' has everything to do with the chemical reactions in your body. Not only this, but yoga will also help to manage blood pressure, and cortisol, the stress hormone," she adds.

Yoga is one of the most important and powerful stress management techniques that has been advocated for ages.