Guest Post from Cindy Cullen


Yoga to Cure Depression and Chase Away the Blues
There’s no doubting the fact that exercise helps boost both mental and physical health, and if there’s one form of exercise that doesn’t take too much time and doesn’t tax your body and drain you physically even as it gives you all the benefits of working out, it’s yoga. For long, yoga had been associated with the mystic East and spirituality more than signifying a way of exercise. Today however, many people have taken to yoga as one of the best ways to improve body and soul; when practiced just a few days a week, for as little as 20 minutes a day, yoga provides a host of benefits that improve the quality of your life and your overall wellbeing.
If you’re prone to moods that are blue and feel sad or depressed most of the time, you could turn to yoga as an effective form of therapy. It helps elevate your mood by:
  • Altering your brain chemistry to enable it to produce more serotonin and dopamine (feel-good hormones)
  • Stimulating your pituitary gland to release endorphins (the feel-good hormone that is released when you exercise) and reduce the level of cortisol (the stress hormone that causes immense damage to mental and physical health)
  • Regulating your thyroid and reducing mood swings and preventing your weight from see-sawing
  • Making you look better and younger by directing more blood to your face so your skin glows and wrinkles are slow to form
The yoga positions (or asanas) that help cope with depression are the head stand (sirshasana), the plow (halaasana), the shoulder stand (sarvangasana), and the fish (matsyasana). While the head and shoulder stands are for advanced practitioners of yoga, the plow and the fish positions can be learned in a few weeks with regular practice. All these positions direct more blood to your head and brain and help stimulate your neurons to generate feel-good hormones that boost your mood. In fact, the shoulder stand is so effective an exercise that doing just this everyday for a few days a week is enough to boost your physical and mental health.
Besides these asanas, practicing how to breathe correctly and meditating for a while in a silent and calm environment can bring about a host of mental and physical health benefits, including boosting your mood and reducing depressive thoughts and feelings.
A significant advantage of yoga is that it is convenient for people of all ages – even if you have health conditions that prevent you from exercising or playing a sport, you could still stay fit and slim by practicing simple yoga exercises and breathing techniques. However, before you begin any yoga routine, discuss it with your doctor and seek out a professional yoga instructor to help you out initially.
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This guest post is contributed by Cindy Cullen, she writes on the topic of culinary arts colleges . She welcomes your comments at her email id: cindycullen84 <@>gmail<.>com.

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