Yoga and Meditation
For people suffering from anxiety, yoga and meditation can definitely be their lifeline. More and more doctors are recommending yoga and meditation as a complementary therapy to avoid anxiety problems.
Studies show that mindfulness meditation can reduce anxiety symptoms to some extent. Every time a person gets anxious, his mind is carried away with the constant worrying about the things that may happen. This makes it all worse and can even cause more symptoms like insomnia. Yoga and meditation help people counteract this tendency and stay in the moment while recognizing worries as they happen and preventing these worried thoughts from getting worse.
Even a 20-30-minute daily session of mindfulness meditation can go a long way to nurture an awareness of present-moment feelings, thoughts, and experiences. Other meditation types also work wonders like loving kindness that involves sending loving thoughts to others and to yourself. We also have the transcendental meditation that involves repeating a mantra to enable your mind to drift right into the non-thinking realm. Even the depressed and those who suffer from physical pain can find yoga and meditation safe and effective.
Your Brain on Yoga
Meditative practices calm your overactive brain. Anxiety involves worrying about the bad things that might never happen, and it’s so focused on the future. Thus, any practice that helps you be in the moment will go a long way. Yoga and meditation help you pay attention to how your body feels, and it holds your mind on the act of breathing in and out while firmly staying anchored in the present moment.
If you or someone you know is suffering from anxiety, encourage them to try yoga and meditation and share how the magic happens.