Photos courtesy of Chelsea Bragg
“The main commonality with yoga is breath,” says Chelsea Bragg, marketing director and instructor at GoYoga. “Focus on controlled breathing is the heart of the practice. That’s the heart of meditation, and yoga is just physical meditation.”
Breathing may be one of the body’s most unconscious actions, but doing it properly can have a profound effect on mental health, Bragg says.
“This controlled breathing allows for people to be present, which is something that is hugely lacking in every single person that is walking this earth,” she says.
Being present means taking note of the internal dialogue that continuously runs through your head, says Bragg. For someone with a condition such as depression, that internal dialogue is focused on the past. With anxiety, it’s focused on the future. With post-traumatic stress disorder, it’s stuck somewhere else in a place of fear.
“Controlled breathing is the focal point (of yoga), and when you’re taking an inhale, you’re really present because that inhale is happening in real time,” Bragg says. “And when you’re taking an exhale, that exhale is happening in real time.”
Yoga allows everyday people to become aware of that little mind chatter so they can stop those thoughts and return to the present, says Bragg. The effect of yoga on mental health is simple, yet powerful. It allows people to habitually change the patterns of their internal dialogue.
Hailey Stangebye is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
