Yoga and Mental Health Consideration

Hi there fellow wellness warrior,

I want to share something that is close to my heart. It may resonate with your own experience. Or offer some new insights into your yoga practice and others.

Studies show that many people come to yoga for mental health reasons. Or if they start for another reason. They continue practicing because of its significant benefits for their mental well-being. A national survey of yoga practitioners in Australia found that while people often began yoga for health and fitness. Most continued for stress management and mental health benefits. One in five respondents practiced yoga for a specific health issue. With stress and anxiety management being the top reasons for doing so (Penman et al., 2012). This highlights the strong connection between yoga and mental health. Which keeps many people committed to their practice.

My yoga journey began for physical reasons. I discovered Bikram Yoga. the original hot yoga, with the goal of burning calories and increasing flexibility. It was new to Canberra at the time and very in vogue. Little did I know that the most profound impact would be on my mental health. Yoga became more than just a physical practice for me—it was transformative. After three months of consistent practice, I was finally able to quit smoking. This was incredible! Because it was after many failed attempts, and I haven’t touched a cigarette since. I had smoked from the age of 15 until 29.

I have studied with and known a fair few people who discovered yoga in rehab and have never looked back. I trained with a lovely man and this was the case for him. He tried everything else. Yoga was his saviour. He has been sober for at least 20 years. I'm not saying this happens for everyone. But it's certainly worth considering. One of the most inspiring yogis I have had the pleasure of training with. Amy Weintraub couldn't lift her depression until she started yoga. She is a pioneer in this field of Yoga for mental health and authored 2 books as a result.

In January 2024, yoga once again played a crucial role in my mental health. By helping me cope with the trauma of surviving my second fire. This fire triggered me. I was a different person. Many people don't get why the fire had such an impact on my health. My father knew straight away it would.  As I was diagnosed with PTSD at the mere age of 11.
One fateful event overseas changed me into a completely different person in 1992. Not to mention it changed the trajectory of my whole life. That PTSD turned into complex PTSD after a few other events. One of those being another house fire. The house was ok, but I suffered second and third degree burns. This meant a 17 day stint in a crowded public hospital. 2 lots of surgery and lots of morphine. Not to mention a pressure garment for over a year.  I have had an eventful life! It certainly has not been a boring one. Then in early 2023 I was diagnosed with ADHD. This probably didn't help either.

In the acute phase I couldn't even use airpods for my barre workouts or meditation. Eye pillows were also  out of the question. Instead of stimulating the vagus nerve. The nerve that tells your rest & digest system to kick in, the opposite happened.

I also suffered from terrible insomnia. Many people with acute PTSD struggle at night. I did. I'm not alone. Because the fire happened at 11pm at night. It took a while before Ii felt it was ok to go to sleep before then. It took a while before I didn't feel guilty for letting my guard down while my innocent little 4 yo was asleep and vulnerable.
I became startled often and easily.
Fortunately I have my personal consistent and daily home yoga practice. This is an essential form of self-care. Especially this year. The more messed up you are. The more yoga you need! I have been very fortunate to be able to wind down work this year to enable me to do this. I'm also fortunate that my yoga practice has evolved alot since I discovered it in 2011. I don't need a mat either. I still do use them though. But my practice doesn't rely on it anymore. In all honesty, I don't think I'd be here today without it. Or I would not be coping at all.  I'm grateful every day for this. I've still had my meltdowns of course. I'm not the victim in this fire who has too.

Now that the acute phase is over. It more about dealing with the frustrating process of negotiating with an insurance company. Who would thiink it would take them over 8 months to decide that the house needed demolishment?😬 It's the first time in may 43 years that I've gone to my state MP for help.
This frustration has been much more difficult than most people realise. If my super resilient and strong husband has gotten stressed over this, then most would. I sympathise to everyone else who has gone through this. It can take 18 months to even just get a payout. If it means rebuilding after a cash payout, it could take 3 years to get back into your old address. And the fact the insurance company doesn't pay your rent when you have nowhere to live (unless you have a great police - which most don't)

But you know what? This can be a good thing. For me anyway. More time to heal and prepare to live in that block again. That street where another house made inhabitable due to a fire just 6 months before ours. (What are the odds right?)I have to see it this way. This is called Ishvara Pranidhana in yoga. Surrendering to the divine. In other words having relief or belief that things happen for a reason. That reason may not be evident at the time. But eventually it does.

Food for thought for yoga teachers and future ones: 

What is your intention when using eye pillows? 🤫

Do you empower your students by giving them permission to chose not to wear them? Or do you think they're beneficial for all students? 🤔

Yoga teachers, how can you cater for this trigger of it being dark in an evening class? 🤔

Something deeper to contemplate.....how would you handle it if you had a student cry loudly in a class?🤔Certain poses can bring this out. We hold trauma and other issues in our physical body. Fascia studies have proven this. This is another topic it itself, so I won't go further here. I'll save that for another day.  This is not an easy situation. It's one of the hardest situations to navigate when teaching.

You might think you don't have any students with PTSD etc. But how can you know for sure? You might think, but no one has ever told me before class they have PTSD. Or I've never seen in on the booking system. It's not always something many people want to talk about that and other mental health issues. 
Especially when many come to yoga to improve their mental health. 
Hence, the importance of learning how to navigate such things.

❌ Often yoga teachers think that not offering physical adjustments is enough. I used to! Unfortunately this is not enough. There's much more to it than that.

For yoga teachers in training or those already qualified. It’s essential to consider the mental health of your students when teaching a class. This involves much more than simply avoiding hands-on adjustments. It encompasses creating a sacred and inclusive space. This is not just in relation to PTSD either.

✅ That’s why mental health considerations will be included in all my teacher trainings that are in the works. moving forward. It’s a crucial aspect of teaching that we can’t overlook.

✅ So, if you've come to yoga or continued practicing for better mental health, know that you're not alone. The mental health benefits of yoga are vast, and it's a journey worth taking for so many of us.

✅ If you're a yoga teacher and are thinking after reading this that there's things here you've done wrong in relation to catering for mental health. Then you're in the majority.  Like me. Please forgive yourself if you're giving yourself a hard time. 

Yours in happiness,

Liz

Reference: Penman, S., Cohen, M., Stevens, P., & Jackson, S. (2012). Yoga in Australia: Results of a national survey. International Journal of Yoga, 5(2), 92-101. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-6131.98217