In this video, Dr Wells discusses yoga as a tool for meditation and exercise. She also shares how yoga can be particularly helpful for PTSD.
Watch the video and see the summary below.
The Benefits of Yoga for Your Mental Health
Yoga can be completely separated from any historical roots in religious tradition and may be seen as a form of meditation and exercise.
For patients with anxiety and depression, we strongly recommend 20-30 minutes of exercise and 3-5 minutes of meditation, mindfulness, or prayer every day. Yoga can count for both!
Yoga may also be very helpful for PTSD. The book Your Body Keeps the Score and most resources that discuss being back in your body, preventing dissociation, and regaining a sense of safety in the body discuss yoga and yoga practices.
Interestingly, exercises focused on balance can be particularly helpful for PTSD patients. When you’re in a balancing pose, you have to stay focused on the present – your mind can’t wander, or you will lose your balance. When you’re in those balancing poses, you’re teaching your body that it is safe to be in your body, because you wouldn’t be able to hold those open balancing poses otherwise. You’re allowing cross-talk between your body and mind that you are safe.
Yoga fits neatly with our mental health maintenance recommendations for activities that are useful on their own and that may help sustain and extend the results of interventional treatments, such as ketamine infusions and TMS.
We recommend nearly any form of yoga – it doesn’t need to be hot bikram or power vinyasa – it can just be the gentle stretching, breathing exercises, and mindfulness exercises found in most types of yoga. Similar practices such as tai chi, qigong, and others with slow, gentle, isometric movements, focusing on the breath and on both relaxation and attention may also be helpful.
Even if you don’t intend to practice Yoga on a regular basis, it might still be useful for you. Yoga can be a great placeholder, for instance, for days when you don’t feel like doing more intense exercise or when the weather isn’t great outside.
If you’re looking for a place to start, you can visit resources we recommend.
About Us
Wells Medicine is a Houston-based practice designed to provide meaningful care for mental health. Providing targeted interventional treatments for Depression, Anxiety, OCD, PTSD and other conditions, with Ketamine Treatments, Stellate Ganglion Blocks, TMS, and Nitrous-Oxide Treatments. Focused on comprehensive care and integration with Psychiatry, Psychology, and Support Services. We are evidence-based, patient-focused and mission-driven.
The content here is for informational purposes and should not be relied upon for medical decisions. For the details of your specific medical conditions and treatments consult your doctors or other qualified healthcare professionals.
