Yoga for Low Mood

If you are depressed you are living in the past, 
If you are anxious you are living in the future, 
If you are at peace, you are living in the present 

Lao Tzu 

Low mood is a common human experience that affects all of us at some points in our lives. The range of low mood can vary from having a low day to a crippling and consistent sense of hopelessness and futility. Unlike Anxiety, where our mind is mainly in the future worrying about what could happen, with low mood we can often be stuck in the past, lingering on what-ifs, looking backwards with regret.  

As a wellness coach, I often hear clients express a sense of numbing attached to consistent low mood, robbing them of vitality and joy, capacities we all have the right to access. How low mood can show up in our physical bodies is associated with feeling sluggish, a sense of heaviness and disconnect from ourselves and others. This in turn can lead to a block in the desire and ability to move and exercise, a well-known antidote to raising energy and increasing a zest for life.  

Yoga goes beyond exercise to increase energy. Integrated health expert Dr Mosaraf Ali* describes how yoga oxygenates muscles whilst other forms of exercise can consume energy held in reserve. Yoga creates a surplus amount of energy held in muscles without depletion, creating energy and therefore invigoration. It also oxygenates the blood, helping to wake up our power-system, something that can feel reduced when we are in low mood states. Infact a study by the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine has shown that yoga compared to other forms of exercise can increase GABA —a primary neurotransmitter that is known to decrease with depression.  

By Rina Modi (Wellness Coach and Shala Teacher Training Consultant)

* Ali, M (2001). The Integrated Health Bible. Vermillion.