How does yoga help with depression and anxiety? | Sri M

Transcript

yoga helps in anxiety because depression is usually the result of anxiety people have labeled a depression and anxiety into some kind of a schizophrenia it's not that is a completely different chapter anxiety comes because we don't know what's going to happen next we don't know how to deal with it we have past experiences which show that oh we are going to have trouble here we do not know whether we are going to win the exams past the exams we have written the example very anxious now we have to the yogi watches the Mind very carefully and what do you find when you watch the Mind very carefully it's precisely the anxiety that prevents you from doing well it's not as if you are anxious that you are not going to do well it's precisely the State of Mind called anxiety that prevents you from doing well so when you recognize that then you know that it is the mind that is causing the problem it problem is not coming from outside right so first we have to distinguish that and then say oneself that this anxiety which I have because I do not know what is going to happen is not going to help me to perform the task therefore I should be free of it this is the first step now when you do that you know what happens in anxiety or BP goes up ah the heartbeat is increasing because you are very anxious there are ways by which you can still this and this is pranayama very simple daily practice of this particular pranam can help you handle anxiety you can't do it only then it should be a daily practice so that when it happens in two minutes you can apply it and you are free of the anxiety which is what we call the watching of the breath it's also practiced in vipassana watching of the breath simply means we never give attention to our breath for a change can we give attention to our breath as we inhale and exhale can we give attention to it complete attention to it you don't even have to control your inhalation and exhalation just give attention to it as you give attention to it it slows down automatically and it's a well-known fact that when the breath slows down the mind also slows down and anxiety is at rest but you have to practice daily 10 minutes of daily watching your breath will help a ranks anxiety when a situation that produces anxiety comes in front of you then you can sit down for a few minutes and do this even when you're going in a bus nobody is even going to know what you are doing people are anxious or if I breathe or close my eyes what will people think there's nothing to think they might think you're sleepy don't be anxious about that okay now that is one thing the other depression depression usually comes out of anxiety if you can handle anxiety Then There is no depression you know what happens what is the meaning of depression oh I have failed oh I am going to fail again this failure repeats itself where do I go I am always in the state I now this is a negative way of thinking there's a positive way of thinking that yoga encourages which is you cannot try to remove the negative without substituting it with something positive and what is yoga's way of doing it saying yeah maybe now it's you're in a low State because you are not succeeding but in true Essence when your mind is very calm you have access to tremendous amounts of energy which can lead you to success if this thought comes that in us there is a potential which is extraordinary which can face all situations then depression will go away by itself you can't take depression keep it in front of you try to hand it's not going to work take your mind off from that situation or thought which gives you depression by something that is positive and enjoyable right then slowly the depression is out and you are enjoying this is the yogic way of being freeing yourself from anxiety and may I also say finally on this question It ultimately nothing is going to happen no prob you see what is going to happen finally you may lose the job believe me there are many people who have lost a job which they thought was so valuable and found something which was better than this how do you think how what happens to this but we will not prevent we will not allow the mind to move forward by saying this is what it is it should be but it is not going to be free yourself from that and one of the practical ways of freeing is through watching the breath I have tried it many times when I was young not that I studied much during the exams but I usually used to come with good marks why because there was no anxiety and what is the secret watching the breadth regularly breathing in and out breathing even today after I am 73 and some situations is natural that sometimes one feels a little anxious even today but you have your past experience and you know nothing is going to happen so you swim imagine you're going to learn to swim when you look at the water and they say if I Plunge in what is going to happen I am going to go to the bottom of the swimming pool I'll die you can never learn to swim once you learn to swim you know it it doesn't matter so this is the thought process that yoga encourages [Music]