This benefit comes from CBD’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. CBD can be a great tool for athletes and yogis to consider using to support their muscular health and also treat any pain that may arise.

Hemp plants contain hundreds of cannabinoids, one of which is CBD. This specific cannabinoid interacts with the numerous enzymes and neuron receptors found in your body. All these neurons and enzymes play a part in regulating the body to keep you healthy and happy. They make up what is called the endocannabinoid system.

All humans and animals have this system, but we know relatively little about it because it was only recently discovered. As scientists continue to study the endocannabinoid system, we learn more and more about how this system plays a vital role in our overall health and how we can support it by utilizing cannabinoids, like CBD.

Calmness Through CBD

So, what can CBD do for the endocannabinoid system? Well, you can think of ingesting CBD as almost like hitting a “reset” button for your nervous system. Dave DiCosola and Kameron Norwood, Co-Founders of Half Day CBD, explain:

"Think of CBD as the reset button for overactive nerves in your head and your body. In the same way, meditation or breathing exercises can produce a more calm, balanced feeling, CBD can adjust your body's chemistry to improve balance."

When CBD is ingested, it affects the mind and body by helping to bring about a state of homeostasis. In addition, CBD can help to decrease anxiety and increase mental sedation.

This can be achieved by an ongoing practice of things like deep breathing and meditation as well—but when CBD is ingested, it brings this state on more quickly by altering your body’s chemistry.

Pain and CBD

CBD can produce an anti-inflammatory effect by acting as a modulator. A lot of muscle pain can be traced to inflammation in your body. So, reducing inflammation by using CBD can help your muscles recover more quickly and effectively.

However, this isn’t the only way that CBD can help with reducing pain. When pain occurs, it is because your neurons have sent pain signals to your brain which then allows you to interpret the sensation as pain. Because CBD can soothe overactive neuron receptors, it can act as buffer for when those pain signals are very intense. This means that CBD can actually help to reduce the intensity of which you feel pain as well.

And unlike painkillers, which can be risky because of their potential for addiction and overdose, CBD does not require a doctor’s prescription.

CBD: A Gift from Nature

Natural remedies can be safer than pharmaceutical options, especially when it comes to painkillers and even some anti-inflammatories (although natural is not a guarantee of "safe"!). CBD is one of the very few natural ingredients that hasn’t become controlled by a pharmaceutical patent.

This means it is available to anyone and everyone who would like to use it. CBD is safe and natural, and your body’s endocannabinoid system already knows how to use it to support your optimal health. The way your body processes CBD is similar to the way it processes other plant-based and all-natural substances.

DiCosola likes to think of CBD as another leafy green:

Your body can process CBD in the same way it processes a salad. Your body just knows what to do with CBD. Most CBD is grown locally under the supervision of the Department of Agriculture so not only are you avoiding a slippery slope with pills, but you will also be supporting a local farmer.

But How Do I Know It’s Safe?

Thankfully, as mentioned above, most CBD is grown under the supervision of regulatory bodies like the Department of Agriculture. There is an abundance of legal and safe hemp being grown by local farmers that yield various CBD products to meet the growing demands of people who wish to experience the benefits of using CBD.

Where to Start

If you aren’t someone who has ever used CBD or any type of cannabis, it is DiCosola and Norwood recommended that you “start low and go slow.” Everyone is unique, and the way their endocannabinoid system functions seems to vary based on many genetic and lifestyle differences. The scientific community is still learning so much about how it functions on general level. So to be safe, it is best to work up from a low dose.

The Half Day beginners' dosing guide is a terrific resource to determine how, where, and with how much to start your CBD journey. This guide is helpful regardless of which brand of CBD you choose to try. The guide also outlines the different methods that you can choose to ingest CBD.

The main methods are ingesting oils, eating gummies, using topical creams and salves, and smoking hemp or cannabis flower. Every person will have different methods that work best for them.

Healing Without the High

Unlike cannabis, CBD does not get you high. Some people may feel very relaxed which can sometimes coincide with drowsiness, but in my experience, this is often only due to experiencing an absence of pain which then allows deeper relaxation. CBD is helpful for many people to sleep for that exact reason. Because CBD is different than THC, the cannabinoid that is responsible for the “high” feeling, it does not produce the same effects.

Norwood explains says that CBD is "more about what you don't feel versus what you actually feel. We like to say we have a 'High-Free Guarantee'."

Natural Recovery

CBD is a natural option for a range of physical and mental issues. As we continue to learn more about it, it is expected that we will learn of more and more practical and medical benefits of using CBD.

You may want to try it yourself after your next workout or hot yoga class!

Check out Half Day to incorporate CBD into the flow of your day! Make sure to use the code YOGAPEDIA10 for 10% off of some of our recovery favorites!

The post CBD for Your Muscles appeared first on Yogapedia.

Recently, I've begun a journey into learning about Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy. I practice this type of therapy model with clients, as well as with my own therapist to tend to my healing journey.

Through my experience, I've come to believe that this model of therapy is deeply spiritual and connects me deeper to my Self.

In this article I will briefly describe IFS, how it compares to other forms of self-inquiry or meditation, and I will discuss the draft of the Self as it's presented in IFS.

Read: A Guided Meditation on the Universal Self

What Is Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy?

One of the most profound impacts that my yoga practice had upon me was how it connected me to my inner process with enough space to no longer identify with it. By observing what is going on in my mind and body during my yoga and meditation practice, I could create enough space to become the observer or witness.

IFS connects the person with their inner witness or Self-energy, which is also what I feel that my yoga practice has also been able to do for me. Internal Family Systems takes it a step further where it allows you to use the Self to be the inquisitor of your inner family system.

According to the IFS Institute:

"IFS is a transformative, evidence-based psychotherapy that helps people heal by accessing and loving their protective and wounded inner parts. We believe the mind is naturally multiple and that is a good thing. Just like members of a family, inner parts are forced from their valuable states into extreme roles within us. We also all have a core Self."

"Self is in everyone. It can’t be damaged. It knows how to heal.

By helping people first access their Self and, from that core, come to understand and heal their parts, IFS creates inner and outer connectedness."

In this model of psychotherapy, there is an underlying belief that we are inherently good and that our minds are dynamic – there are layers (called "parts" in IFS) on top of our Self. Internal Family Systems therapy believes that many of those parts have a noble purpose in trying to protect us, no matter how seemingly maladaptive or even violent that the part may have become.

Often, parts are stuck in time, sometime in our childhoods, waiting to be "unburdened" and allowed to take on a new role. By exploring our parts with our Self, the hope is that we can heal, release, and transform the parts that no longer serve an adaptive function in our lives.

Read: Yoga as Somatic Therapy for Healing Trauma and PTSD

What Is the "Self"?

The creator of Internal Family Systems therapy, Dr. Richard Schwartz, talks about accidentally stumbling upon this draft of "Self" that we already see in so many other spiritual traditions.

Self is the underlying stillness – the calm underneath the ego. It is how we are able to be curious and compassionate to our other parts.

Internal Family Systems differs slightly from other traditions in that the Self can become an active part with certain qualities. Being "Self-led" in IFS refers to using that energy to run your day-to-day life and make important decisions.

There are eight qualities of being Self-led (having Self-leadership) identified in Internal Family Systems.

The 8 Qualities of Self-Leadership

1. Curiosity
2. Compassion
3. Calmness
4. Confidence
5. Courage
6. Clarity
7. Creativity
8. Connected

Read: How to be Mindfully Aware of the Authentic Self

IFS Exploration Versus Meditation

Exploring your parts in IFS can feel very much like a guided meditation. Clients can undergo the process on their own, but is often more successful with a trained IFS therapist.

A person may close their eyes during the process in order to facilitate looking inward towards their internal process. The client reflects within to see what parts are currently active and explores to see what role each part is playing.

A major difference between IFS work and meditation is that thoughts, feelings, reactions, and sensations are often seen as "trailheads." This means they are opportunities for exploration, which differs greatly from a purely "observer and witness" model of self-inquiry.

During this process, you may notice a part that is having a particular reaction, and then notice where you feel it in or around your body.

With Internal Family Systems, you create space by coming into "Self" energy and asking that part of you questions to understand its purpose. From there, you may be able to identify how it is trying to protect you or help you.

Read: Dissolve the Ego With This Guided Meditation

Spiritual Based Self-Inquiry In Psychotherapy

Rather than interpreting the mental chatter as distractions, the mind is explored in depth using the 8 qualities of self-leadership. This creates opportunities for tremendous insights and healing. With IFS, you allow the answers to come.

Rather than seemingly endless psychoanalysis where the therapist is in the expert or listener role, as often is the case with traditional psychotherapy, in IFS the client is able to lead and explore their internal world with their "Self."

This model of therapy requires a deep trust from the therapist that the parts will reveal themselves at a safe pace, and the therapist accesses their own "Self" energy to guide the session without their own parts getting in the way.

Internal Family Systems therapy compliments an existing spiritual practice and could jump start a new one! I experienced a profound spiritual experience after a therapist lead me through something called "unburdening."

I highly recommend considering this revolutionary style of therapy to anyone who is trying to work on their behaviors, traumas, reactions, or overall mental health.

The post Pieces of You: Internal Family Systems Therapy and Yoga appeared first on Yogapedia.

He saw himself as a healer rather than a savior. He only wished to share the teachings that lead him to his own awakening or enlightenment.

These teachings lead students to follow the universal path of “Dhamma,” in Pali, or “dharma,” in Sanskrit. Dhamma means understanding the cosmic or universal law, or simply the essential teachings of the Buddha.

In this article, I will tell the well-known and often disputed story of the Buddha, briefly explain his essential teachings, and explore how the teachings profess that following the path of Dhamma leads to awakening and enlightenment.

Once Upon a Time, There Was a Buddha

The story of the Buddha tells of the Prince Siddhartha, who was born in 623 B.C. He was predicted by a sage to be either a powerful ruler or religious savior. The King, his father, favored the first option and therefore kept him living in luxury, sheltered within the palace, and trained him to become a ruler.

It is said that he saw four sights on the few occasions that he did leave the royal palace:

• An old man
• A sick man
• A dead man
• A religious monk.

These four sights lead him to become curious about the meaning of life and towards the Four Noble Truths. In his late twenties it is said he left the palace, his wife, and newborn child, to discover the true purpose of existence on his own.

After a few years of studying under various teachers, he finally sat down under a Bodhi tree determined to meditate until the truths he sought were revealed to him. It is under that tree into the wee hours of the morning that he became enlightened.

Read: Into Buddhahood: The Story of Gautama Buddha

What The Buddha Taught

It is said that after some hesitation Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha devoted the rest of his life to teaching the path of Dhamma. He taught of the Four Noble Truths:

1. The Noble Truth of Suffering: suffering starts with birth itself – our inherent attachment to life and aversion to death produces suffering

2. The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering: suffering is from our own desires – from our cravings and aversions

3. The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering: accepting, understanding, and witnessing blissful detachment

4. The Noble Truth of the Path: the path of Dhamma leads to the Cessation of Suffering

He then taught the Noble Eightfold Path for the Cessation of Suffering:

1. Right understanding – seeing things as they are, understanding the four noble truths

2. Right thought – detachment and selflessness

3. Right speech – abstaining from lies, slander, hatred, harshness, useless babble, gossip

4. Right action – honorable, peaceful, refraining from dishonorable sexual conduct

5. Right livelihood – earning a living through honest, peaceful, nonviolent and nonharming work

6. Right effort – willingness to prevent and rid oneself from unwholesome or evil thoughts

7. Right mindfulness – awareness of body, sensations, mind, and thoughts

8. Right concentration – dhyana

There Isn’t Only One Buddha: The Path to Buddhahood

Awakening can be described as a process of remembering who we are and connecting with our spirituality and oneness with the universe. The Buddha simply means “the enlightened one.” It is not a name given only to Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha but rather a label that, according to his teachings, anyone can achieve. The teachings profess that we can all be Buddhas if we accept the Four Noble Truths and follow the Noble Eightfold Path.

In my participation at a 10-day Vipassana retreat I was taught the meditation of Vipassana. During this retreat S. N. Goenka teaches Vipassana meditationto be the technique that lead the Buddha to his enlightenment under that Bodhi tree.

Read: Detoxing From Stimulation: Learning Patience and Trust Through Vipassana Meditation

It is taught that the technique that the Buddha taught during his life and that it has been passed down through generations since the time of the Buddha. The technique teaches the process of observing sensations in the body without reaction, to understand your true nature of constant change and to eradicate the suffering that comes from your habitual reactions.

Through the teachings of the Buddha and the meditation of Vipassana, which means to “see things as they really are,” you can awaken to the way things are through your own experience. The concepts of the Noble Four Truths and Noble Eightfold Path can be studied, and should be in order to cultivate right understanding, but it is most important to experience it through meditation – right mindfulness and right concentration.

Awaken Yourself

Through hard work, diligent meditation, and living a lifestyle in accordance to the Noble Eightfold Path we can all awaken to the truth of the universal law of nature. The Buddha taught that we musn’t accept things just because it is widely believed, taught in scriptures, proclaimed by teachers, or even if it seems logical.

In fact, he would teach that you should not believe this article or anything you read online or elsewhere until you truly experience it.

Everything is constantly changing, we are born into a life of suffering by nature of our attachment to life itself, and we can experience a cessation of suffering through seeing things as they are without the mental projections that we believe in our non-awakened states.

Read: The Roots of Suffering: Sprouted From the Mind, Healed by the Heart

If this seems hard to understand intellectually – that is because it is. It must be experienced through stillness and detachment in order to awake from your slumber. It is in this awakened state that you can actually feel the understanding of these truths.

At that point, living a life that is peaceful, loving, compassionate and detached – much like the like of life Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha – becomes the only path to take.

The post Awakening Through the Teachings of the Buddha appeared first on Yogapedia.

I spoke on this topic with a friend and mentor, Anthony Bogart. He inspired me to write go a little deeper and take a different perspective.

A common theme amongst all the different people who gave me feedback was how I should focus more on intention.

While I believe that we need to be mindful of the opportunities where we can be misunderstood, or unintentionally harmful, when it comes to potential cultural appropriation and abuse of privilege — I also believe that heart-centered and noble intentions are meaningful.

This is where my intersection as a social worker and yoga teacher can bring up seemingly conflicting points of view. Ultimately, it comes down most simply to doing no harm through ahimsa.

In this article, I will explore traditional versus modern yoga, the relationship between ahimsa and intention, and a little reflection on yoga's journey towards capitalism.

Traditional Versus Modern Yoga

Nearly twenty years ago, Swami Janakananda titled their editorial "Call it something else!" when referring to modern "gymnastics yoga." This is a similar sentiment to what I expressed in my other article: "Considering Yoga in the West: Is it Really Yoga?"

Traditional yoga did include asana, but they were not typically intended to target muscle groups or treat physical ailments like modern yoga often is presented. Instead, they may have focussed on the flow of energy, or preparing the body for higher limbs of yoga (meditation) or sitting for long periods of time.

Traditional ashtanga yoga focuses on the ladder up the limbs to samadhi or enlightenment. In samadhi, we transcend the ego. At that point of egolessness, things that are emphasized in modern yoga – like alignment, daily practice, progress, advanced variations – are completely irrelevant.

But are any of us typical modern humans ever going to reach samadhi? Not likely.

Modern yoga has been innovated to meet the needs of modern mankind – who finds themselves living in a seemingly ego-driven and capitalistic world… but more on that later.

Read: Ahimsa: Yoga's Single Most Important Practice (Kindness)

How Does Intention Relate to Ahimsa?

Ahimsa is "universal love and compassion," and being "non-violent in thought and action, in body and soul." According to Jainism, ahimsa also extends to consider intentional and unintentional violence again any life form as resulting in negative karma.

So, to go back to my points in the other article – if someone who has class and racial privilege teaches yoga with the intention of sharing a beautiful practice in hopes to bring peace and unity unknowingly and unintentionally brings up suffering in the form of negative feelings of oppression or cultural appropriation – is that unintentional violence?

Is that breaking ahimsa? Does that mean they should stop?

I invite the draft that this should be something that is taught in every single yoga teacher trainings for teachers to be aware of and sensitive to – the same way we have learned to teach about getting consent for hands-on adjustments. You may do harm, with absolutely no intention of doing so.

If we talk more about racial and class privilege in the yoga world, and are more open about yoga's recent history in the last 100 years – we may be able to avoid doing more harm.

Read: Ahimsa: The Number One Yama of the First Limb of Yoga

Yoga and It's Path Toward Capitalism

When I spoke to my friend and mentor that I mentioned earlier, Tony, I sure wish I recorded it because he is full of knowledge and history! As someone who began practicing yoga in the early '70s and opened his own studio in the '80s, he watched an evolution of yoga in America unfold.

When we spoke, he provided a unique perspective when I presented to him the drafts of my previous article (that I'll admit – felt a little accusatory and was hard for me to even bring to the conversation). He told me there was a time when yoga was in the counterculture, and those in the counterculture were persecuted in varying ways.

Around the world, yogis were not allowed to practice yoga because the principles of self-liberation deviated from the draft of political control over the individual. The only way to keep yoga alive, and safe to practice, was to bring it into the mainstream capitalist culture.

Another thing that my mentor said to me is that amongst the yogic community there is a deep need to understand that "yoga schools are not separate but really cousins." These schools evolved from the same roots, and they also often get lost in the illusion of separateness.

Again, that sneaky ego of our oh-so-human experience rears its influence.

Of course, creating separateness through distinct yoga schools supported capitalistic goals. Different schools, lineages – and ultimately different types of studios and teacher trainings – provided different niche markets.

This is what happened during the 1960s and 1970s. To this day, there remains a stark division between lineages of yoga and their practitioners.

Some of the most influential yogis and gurus in the 1960s and 1970s that helped with yoga's path towards mainstream culture include:

• Swami Vishnudevananda, who came to San Francisco in 1958 and soon thereafter founded Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers
• Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who spread Transcendental Meditation across the Americas in the 60s
• B.K.S. Iyengar, who began to emphasize alignment and anatomy in the '60s and '70s, creating yet another school of yoga.

There were several other significant players, such as Swami Satchidananda, who spoke at Woodstock in 1969, Bikram Choudhury, who created a following in Hollywood, and many more.

Read: How Yoga Spread to Europe, America, and Around the World

The Fantasy of Happiness

An interview with the author of “The Happiness Fantasy,” Carl Cederström, speaks directly to the counterculture movement and how it was usurped by the mainstream culture and capitalism at large.

Yoga was seen not only as a tool for physical fitness, but also as a tool for individual happiness. However, in doing that, it actually fuels the self-interested ego. The draft of union, practiced in yoga, was bought and sold to us as something to be achieved for the individual.

Yet, in actuality, union of body-mind-spirit must include spirit – which extends our union to a greater place in the whole interconnected Universe.

So, capitalism and yoga arguably contradict each other because it actually brings us further from our spiritual development.

But, unless we are retreating into the mountains for a life as a monk, we live in such a world where capitalism must be incorporated into our lifestyle.

We are householders. We pay our bills with money earned from a capitalistic culture.

Making The Best

We do the best with what we've got.

Traditional yoga was simply not meant to be practiced in the world that we find ourselves in today. The only way is to adapt our yoga practice to fit our current political, economic, and spiritual landscape.

That does not mean we can't challenge ourselves to keep as true to the core values as we can. But, as my mentor implored me to do, we also have to cut ourselves some slack.

Yoga and capitalism can contradict each other and still be worthwhile to blend together.

What is the intention? Are we doing harm?

The more we focus on what brings us into union, rather than what makes us separate, the more we we can be aligned with what yoga truly is.

The post The Evolution of Modern Yoga appeared first on Yogapedia.

Whether we are exhibiting symptoms of any type of sickness or not, there is a social responsibility to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus and stay home.

For many of us, self-isolating could bring up painful feelings of aloneness or, at least, uncomfortable boredom. With everything going on, we may also find ourselves feeling fear and worry in the uncertainty of what is to come.

However, with this situation comes an unexpected opportunity to turn inward. This can be scary if our internal world is filled with challenging or uncomfortable emotions.

If you find yourself turning away from your regular routine of meditation and yoga, please know that you are not alone. It is natural to want to distract yourself in times of uncertainty like these.

The challenge we face (for myself included) is to use this inward time to continue to develop our practices. We can use yoga and meditation to survive this period of self-isolation.

How Yoga and Meditation Can Help

Sitting in meditation for an extended period of time or participating in yoga class are great ways to come back into the present moment and release anxiety or worry.

However, sometimes in uncertain times like these, it can be even more challenging to find that internal peace or stillness. In a recent “The Trauma Therapist” podcast , Dr. Bruce Perry talks about “dosing.” He recommends "dosing" ourselves with activities that can calm our nervous systems and regulate our emotions.

This means that instead of meditating or practicing yoga for say 30 minutes or an hour once a day, like you may have done before, it could be more useful to "dose" yourself throughout the day.

Get up and practice five minutes of yoga every one to two hours. Take time to meditate and become aware of your breath for a minute every hour.

Give yourself regular doses of these soothing practices to keep yourself regulated throughout the day.

Read: Grounding Through the Senses: Mindfulness Techniques to Help You get Grounded

Tools to Combat Anxiety:

1. Soothe yourself preventatively.

This takes a certain level of self-awareness and insight that can be gained through frequent meditation practice. Learn to notice signals that you are becoming anxious or overwhelmed.

This could be a rising heart rate, clenching of the jaw or other muscles, shallow breathing or any other number of physiological cues. It could also be an increase of thoughts based around fear or the uncertainty of the future.

When you can notice the warning signs before you lose yourself in them, you can take a pause and do your five minutes of yoga or one minute of intentional deep breathing.

Read: 4 Pranayama for Combatting Anxiety

2. Dedicate specific times of your day to check the news or social media and commit to these boundaries.

We are being inundated with information – not all of which is helpful or even true. If it is important to you to stay updated, that's okay.

Staying glued to the news or your social media feed for updates is guaranteed to increase your anxiety. This tool is paramount in creating space for stillness and healthy detachment.

Read: 3 Ways Meditation Can Improve Your Mental Health

3. Watch online yoga classes and guided meditations.

One pleasant result of this time of self-isolation is that it is creating endless online content – much of it totally free. If you have struggled with developing a solid home practice, then it is a good time to start.

Having online content to follow along with can be so helpful. Find a teacher or studio who is uploading regular classes and follow along. Create a yoga studio or meditation sanctuary in your own home.

If you need help finding some good online classes, check out: Best Sites for Online Yoga Classes to Deepen Your Practice

4. Practice acceptance.

We don't know for sure what's going to happen for sure. This isn't really up for debate – things are changing rapidly. Uncertainty and anxiety go hand in hand.

We can learn to practice acceptance to combat this feeling. We can accept that we don't know. We can accept that we can't know.

We can accept that we're scared, angry, happy, relieved, guilty or any other feeling. If you are struggling with accepting these feelings, you can access online counselling. Get a therapist that you can connect with.

I offer online psychotherapy at mbltherapy.com and so do hundreds of other licensed and trained therapists all over the world. I am happy to help people connect with an online therapist that is able to work with them.

Read: Love Yourself Fully: 6 Hacks to Self-Care

Mindfulness Tips to Help Us All Stay Sane

1. Let yourself feel feelings.

There's a lot of fear present. Even if you are not feeling fearful, the fear around us is palpable. A vast array of feelings other than fear will likely be triggered as well.

Some may confuse you. I'm here to tell you THAT's OKAY!

Let yourself feel these feelings. Feel where they arise in your body. Feel them as they shift, intensify, or dissipate. Feeling your feelings is different than thinking your feelings, and the invitation here is to focus on sensation rather than intellectual judgments.

In Vipassana meditation, it is taught to observe sensation without aversion or craving. From this, we can learn to appreciate the constantly changing nature of our human experience – anicca – the law of impermanence.

Each feeling will change. Each thought will change. The state of our world, will change.

Read: You Are Not Your Thoughts

2. Practice mindfulness outside.

If you can safely practice self-isolating and get outside, please do it! Listen to the sounds of the world.

In my busy neighbourhood, I hear more birds and silence than ever before. Sit in the stillness that is present and absorb it.

3. Watch your breath.

Practice Dirgha Pranayama – the three part full yogic breath – as often as possible. This will calm your nervous system and bring you back into the present moment.

Allowing ourselves to stay in a pattern of shallow breathing not only keeps us anxious but it does no favors for our immune system either! Stay with the breath – stay healthy and present.

Read: Dirgha Pranayama: An Introduction to 3 Part Breathing

4. Notice when you feel more peaceful.

Be mindful of when you feel at ease – and do more of that. Notice your physiological and mental cues throughout your day.

Everyone on earth has felt a shift in their regular routine and you may find yourself needing different things than usual to feel peaceful or joyful.

Embrace joy because we all deserve to feel it – and without it, we will struggle more than we need to.

Be it a favourite food, tv show, exercise routine, art, music, or any other activity that allows you to focus on something enjoyable – let yourself have some happy moments.

Be self-compassionate and gentle with yourself – especially if you find yourself doing things that you would normally judge yourself for (ie. binge watching an entire season on Netflix!).

The invitation here is not to throw caution to the wind and indulge yourself without regard. Instead, the invitation is to notice what brings ease and give yourself healthy doses of those things, without judgment.

Read: Light and Dark: The Spectrum of Human Experience

5. Notice when you feel isolated and reach out (from a distance, of course!).

Social distancing does not need to mean we are isolated. Physical distancing is a better way of putting it, and instead we can practice "distance socializing." Call, text, or videochat with your people more than you usually would – especially if you feel isolated or alone.

While self-isolation is a great opportunity to go inward, if you are noticing that your challenging emotions are causing significant distress than this could be a sign that you are too isolated.

We are social beings and we need human connection. Reach out!

Stay safe and healthy. We will get through this – separately – but together.

The post Mindfulness Tips to Help You Get Through Self-Isolation and Social Distancing appeared first on Yogapedia.

Using meditation to combat stress and anxiety lead me away from being a therapist and into teaching yoga.

Today, I see more clearly how therapy and yoga techniques, like meditation, can used together to combat anxiety.

Meditation actually changes the way the body and brain function. It can allows us to sweat less, breathe slower, lower blood pressure, and influence our neurological chemistry.

By meditating, we can alleviate symptoms of stress and anxiety by intentionally using the breath and mindfulness to create acceptance and awareness.

Breathe In, Breathe Out

Perhaps the most powerful tool we have in meditation is our breath. Research by Bidgoli et al. (2016), shows that teaching pranayama to patients with anxiety is an effective treatment.

However, when we're stressed, remembering complicated pranayama is not as easy as a simple breathing meditation.

A simple one I have taught to clients to deal with stress is called square breathing. This is done by simple counting as you inhale, hold the breath, exhale, and hold the breath again. Each step is done with a count of four.

This can be great in meditation as you can also visualize a square for added focus. If this is too much, it can be done without the holds and by simply counting your breaths.

You could even repeat “I am breathing in, I am breathing out” mentally as you slow your breathing and focus on the activity.

Breathing is one of the most effective ways to control stress and anxiety. Many people are breathing inefficiently, using only their chest to breathe rapidly, and therefore not receiving enough oxygen.

Read: 4 Pranayama for Combatting Anxiety

This way of breathing actually perpetuates anxiety and stress, creating a negative feedback loop; our shallow breath causes our nervous system to be more prone to stress and when stressful things occur our reaction is to tense and breathe shallow and rapidly.

Meditation allows for a bidirectional positive effect between meditation and stress or symptoms of anxiety. We can use meditation to become aware of our breathing patterns and use this knowledge in our everyday lives.

When we notice our breathing has become shallow throughout the day, we can stop and take intentional slow, deep breaths that fill our bellies. The more we practice this in meditation, the more it will come naturally to us throughout our lives.

Read: Yoga and Mental Health: Pranayama, Asana and Mantra for Mood

Observance and Acceptance

Meditation also allows us to use skills that are taught in mindfulness-based and acceptance-based therapies.

As a therapist, I found that elements from a certain type of therapy, called dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), were extremely effective in working with a range of mental difficulties, including anxiety, because of its incorporation of mindfulness and Buddhism roots.

Within mindfulness, we find nonjudgmental awareness and radical acceptance of our thoughts and emotions.

By sitting in meditation and practising mindfulness, you can practice observing your thoughts and emotions without judgment or evaluation. You can also find relief in radically accepting the current state of anxiety you may find yourself in rather than resisting it.

Here you can also meditate with mantras, affirmations or prayers to recognize your anxiety or stressors. Giving the mind something to focus on can help to clear the rapid thoughts that typically occur during times of anxiousness or stress.

You may want to say to yourself, “I honor my anxiety and accept what it has to show me,” to bring acceptance to your current state. By accepting your reality, you reduce the suffering of your experience.

Acceptance does not mean that you approve of your circumstances, but simply that you acknowledge its existence as your present reality.

Read: The Power to Transform Stress & Anxiety into Resilience

Awareness of Self

Awareness comes with meditation. As you sit and observe your thoughts, many truths come to the surface of our consciousness.

Meditation is often where we face our true selves. From this, you can identify areas of your life that may need attention and methods to address them.

For example, you may find that you actually need to journal to get some of your thoughts out in order to be able to sit in meditation. You may notice memories and thoughts from the past surfacing, and find relief in the self-reflection that occurs.

Perhaps you notice that your anxiety and stress has reached a point that you want the extra support of a therapist or mental health coach.

Sometimes you observe mental tendencies that do not serve your levels of stress and anxiety, such as procrastination, perfectionism, and self-criticism.

Through meditation, you are creating the stillness needed for you to identify the work that needs to be done without the urgency and irrationality that often comes with stress and anxiety.

A regular meditation practice allows for the mind to have the opportunity to sort itself out from a calm place and to make healthier choices.

Read: 3 Tips on Improving Your Meditation Practice

Free Relief Available 24/7

Meditation allows us to observe, accept, and, subsequently, change the thoughts that cause us to react negatively to situations with stress and anxiety.

It allows us to use mindfulness to connect with the present moment when we may be ruminating on thoughts about the past or future.

It also allows us to notice and control our breath, thus calming our nervous system, reducing cortisol levels and balancing our neurotransmitters, like GABA, serotonin and dopamine, that contribute to our sense of anxiety and mood.

Meditation is one of the best and most easily accessible tool we can use to calm stress and anxiety, bringing us both psychological and physiological relief.

The post How Meditation Can Help Soothe Your Stress and Anxiety appeared first on Yogapedia.

If we don't, we may respond in a way to create safety in that moment. But in the long term, this safety often causes disruption and unease.

Someone who experiences trauma may have challenges with interoception. Interoception is our ability to consciously perceive what is going on inside our bodies at any moment.

Trauma can disrupt the mind-body connection. What is remarkable is that this is often done to create safety as a survival mechanism because our bodies and minds are so smart that they know just how much we can handle.

When experiencing trauma, we may dissociate from our bodies, or go blank from our minds, in order to protect us. The trauma can remain frozen in the body, unprocessed.

The problem is that once a threat has passed, we might still be maintaining a mind-body separation, or "dissociation," in order to feel safe. We may only feel sensations that are overwhelming, and lose the ability to tune into subtle sensations.

This is especially the case for developmental or relational based trauma, because similar situations may trigger us into believing that the trauma is still happening or happening again, thus creating a trauma response that overwhelms our nervous system.

Read: The Body Remembers: How Your Body is Storing Past Trauma

What Is Somatic Therapy?

The belief underneath of this type of therapy is that a person gets physiologically stuck in their trauma in a way that traditional psychotherapy can not always access. As a result, emotions become repressed and the trauma is "stuck" in the body.

Psychcentral talks about somatic psychotherapy:

"Somatic therapy is a holistic therapy that studies the relationship between the mind and body in regard to psychological past. The theory behind somatic therapy is that trauma symptoms are the effects of instability of the ANS (autonomic nervous system). Past traumas disrupt the ANS."

One specific type of somatic therapy, developed by Dr. Peter Levine, is called "Somatic Experiencing." This therapy takes away the focus from the traumatic event. Instead, the actual "trauma" is the body becoming overwhelmed by the experience.

In Somatic Experiencing (SE) it is not even necessary to discuss the trauma verbally. A study by Brom et al. (2017) found that SE was effective in reducing symptoms of PTSD and depression. Evidence to support SE is limited but growing.

Read: The Benefits of Yoga and The Vagus Nerve

Yoga for Trauma

Since discussing the trauma is not a requirement for potentially re-establishing the mind-body connection and releasing trauma from the body, yoga is an appropriate alternative to SE.

A study by Price et al. (2017) found that participants experienced a reduction in dissociation symptoms after only a 20-week trauma sensitive yoga program. Many of these participants had been in therapy for years and not experienced that type of shift so quickly or effectively before. The study focussed on individuals with "treatment resistant" PTSD.

The results suggest that part of the reason individuals may be "resistant" to PTSD treatment could be that traditional talk therapies neglect to include the body. Without restoring the mind-body connection, trauma may not be able to be released and properly processed.

Read: Trauma Informed Yoga: A Tool for Reconnection

"The Body Keeps The Score"

The concept of trauma becoming stored in the body is discussed within the psychology world but, in my opinion as someone who works for a government agency as a mental health clinician, it's not discussed nearly enough.

Dr. Besser van der Kolk wrote a book called The Body Keeps The Score that not only presents the neuroscience behind these claims but helps us look toward the future of trauma healing in a different way.

Sometimes we are left with implicit memories that simply cannot be accessed through the language centers of our brain. It may be because we were young and had not yet developed enough language or maybe we had to shut down the parts of the brain responsible for language in order to survive the incident.

Explicit memories that have a story and language attached to it may benefit from telling the story of the trauma, but that still may not be enough to release the trauma from the body. If "The Body Keeps The Score," then sometimes going back and experiencing or processing the sensations and physiological reactions may be the only way to release it.

Read: Trauma Informed Mindfulness: Why Meditation May Not Be Helpful

Relearning Safety

Through trauma-sensitive yoga we are relearning a sense of safety in our bodies. We are relearning to feel safe when we are present within and connected to our bodies.

If we came to feel unsafe in our bodies at any time through stress or trauma, it is an opportunity to tune into our sensations and feel safe in doing so. It is an opportunity to re-acquaint ourselves with the sensations of the body that we may have been cut off from.

This can be helpful when we may find ourselves triggered or in a "trauma flashback." We can reconnect to the present moment and potentially dissipate the sensations that create the uncomfortable feeling when the nervous system is overwhelmed.

It may also help us with understanding and managing our symptoms of anxiety, depression, and obsessiveness that often come with PTSD or traumatic stress. We can tune into the subtle sensations that are present with these reactions as well.

Read: Why We All Need Trauma-Informed Yoga

For example, we may be able to truly feel what "scared" feels like in our bodies, and instead of running from it or numbing we can instead allow ourselves to let the sensations move through us. Through this, we may release this energy that has been stored and trapped, sometimes for years.

This requires a safe environment, patience, and often a skilled practitioner or therapist.

The beautiful thing with yoga is that we can learn to trust the process instead of getting stuck in our mind and overanalyzing. Yoga as a somatic therapy for trauma allows us to reclaim our body, at a pace that we intuitively follow.

Just as the trauma may have been an intuitive survival response, we can trust our bodies to heal and release trauma at a pace that is safe for us as well.

The post Yoga as Somatic Therapy for Healing Trauma and PTSD appeared first on Yogapedia.

I would have said that yoga isn't a purely physical practice, but also a spiritual one.

I still believe this, but recently my lens for understanding yoga has transformed.

Sometimes in Western culture, yoga is viewed as a tool for physical health and stress relief. I write about how yoga is an effective tool to support mental health all the time.

Recently, I participated in a weekend trauma informed yoga teacher training for health care professionals. I write about it in my recent article, Trauma Informed Yoga: A Tool For Reconnection.

At this training, I found myself learning about yoga with a different lens than before.

And I found myself asking the question, "Should what we teach as "yoga" in the West be called something else instead?"

In this article, I discuss this topic and cite many other people's thoughts and drafts who are already discussing important considerations around the colonization and appropriation of yoga in Western culture.

This is something that many people do not think about. I know I didn't until only recently.

The Colonization of Yoga

It is said that yoga is an ancient practice that can be traced to South Asia – including the region that is present day India.

To start, understanding the link between colonization and yoga is important. Much like Canada and the United States, Britain colonized India.

During colonial rule, yoga and Ayurveda were banned in India. The effects of British colonization include causing the people of the land to become disconnected with who they are, their traditions, and history.

Another important consideration is that we can't be certain what traditional yoga looked like as it is debated among different schools of thought. It is documented, however, that when Britain colonized India, yogis were not respected and actually considered despicable vagrants.

In preparing to write this article, I stumbled upon a website called Decolonizing Yoga. This website launched following protests at the 2013 Yoga Journal Conference in San Francisco.

The website has evolved into a great online resource for discussions on the intersection of privilege and yoga that acknowledges many different marginalized communities.

An interesting article from Decolonizing Yoga written by Melissa Heather outlines how yoga, as we know it in the West, is actually a direct product of colonialism. She states that yoga was brought to the West "to propagate the wisdom of Indian spiritual tradition and to combat the crushing poverty of the Indian people."

To give some context, India went from a wealthy and thriving nation before British presence, to an impoverished nation after they left. Essentially, yoga was packaged and sold as means to get out of an oppressed corner.

On this very subject, The Sociological Yogi writes:

"Traditional hatha yoga practices were re-appropriated and combined with modern physical culture in an attempt to meld “indigenous” Indian exercises with more Western practices and draftls. Thus, a new, more aerobic and acrobatic version of yoga was born that was devoid of any of the negative associations of earlier centuries."

"Yoga" was re-branded, so to speak, but was left with the same name.

Using Sanskrit

Sanskrit is an ancient language that modern day Hindi is derived from. Many people wrongly assume that they are one and the same, or that they are not linked at all.

This can cause some people to use or repeat words – that they've likely heard in a yoga class somewhere – in insensitive ways or, at best, uninformed. One could argue this way of operating is not ahimsa (nonviolence), albeit unintentional – hopefully.

Read: Ahimsa: Yoga's Single Most Important Practice (Kindness)

A recent NPR article, written by Kumari Devarajan, dropped a truth bomb on me that I wasn't ready for. She shares that every yogi's most beloved word, "Namaste" simply means "hello" among modern Hindi speakers.

There are 425 million people in the world who speak Hindi. There are 24,821 people in India registered as native Sanskrit speakers.

I could not find data on how many people worldwide repeat Sanskrit words that also have a meaning in Hindi, like namaste, on a daily basis. But, guaranteed, it is a lot.

Devarajan took to twitter to ask South Asians how they feel when they hear or see the word "namaste" being used.

The general consensus is that they feel uncomfortable and disrespected, especially when the word is changed into some English-joke-hybrid (ie. namastay in bed).

Modern Yoga and Its Intersection With White Privilege

In the West, it is accurate to say that the majority of people who practice yoga are predominantly white, well-educated women.

One study by Ross et al. (2013) randomly sampled over 1000 people from 15 different studios, with respondents from 41 different US states. Of that sample, 84.2% were female, 89.2% were white, and 87.4% were well educated (meaning they had at least a Bachelor's degree).

Knowing the history of colonialism in India and how that influenced yoga, AND as a white, well-educated female yoga teacher of British ancestry – this makes me cringe.

When Americans are asked about why they practice yoga, they do not generally cite it as a spiritual practice.

Instead, they cite the physical, health, and mental benefits. This is the way it was sold into our Western capitalistic culture.

One could ask, is this really even yoga?

In her article "How to Decolonize Your Yoga Practice," Susanna Barkataki writes:

"Yoga is not now, nor has it ever been, a practice aimed at physical mastery for its own sake. Nor is it a practice aimed at "stress reduction" so we can function as better producers and consumers in a capitalist society."

Read: What Is the True Meaning of Yoga?

Can We Decolonize a Practice Without Calling it Yoga?

I wonder if we c Because it is something different.

A hot "yoga" flow class lead by a white woman, such as myself, ending with chanting "om" and "namaste" is seriously guilty of cultural appropriation. It is also arguably disrespectful and oppressive to the Hindi-speaking second generation North American student, who feels like a stranger to their own yoga practice.

Calling this practice "yoga," depending on how it is delivered, may not even accurate. At minimum, it's misleading.

Cultural Appropriation

Dictionary.com defines cultural appropriation as "the adoption or co-opting, usually without acknowledgment, of cultural identity markers associated with or originating in minority communities by people or communities with a relatively privileged status."

Sounds about right.

There is a reason why I have cited so many other people's thoughts and work on this topic throughout this article. I am learning about this deeply complex topic and I am an ally to those who feel triggered or oppressed by the way yoga is bought and sold in the West.

I want to do my best to acknowledge my privilege as one of those statistics – an educated white woman "yogi/yogini" – and I want to call upon that privilege to keep this conversation at the forefront for myself, and other yoga teachers and practitioners.

As I shared, I have British ancestry. I was taught yoga by other white women. At no time during the last 10 years that I have been practicing "yoga" was all of this even close to part of the discussion until very recently when I did the trauma informed yoga training.

I look back at my ignorance with accountability, and a desire to do better.

So, What How do We do Better?

There are more questions than answers at this time. But the most important thing is that the conversations exist.

We can start by educating ourselves on the colonial history of yoga, and feel into what is rightly ours to share or not. I know for me, I am not going to be ending my classes with "namaste" any longer, which is a big shift.

Yoga is more than asana. Most people who believe they practice "yoga," many of them privileged, do not fully understand this. I want to keep that conversation going too.

Do we say we are going to a fitness flow class? What about people with accessibility issues?

What about people who are devout to their religions and are uncomfortable with the links to modern day Hinduism that we see through use of Hindi and depictions of deities? Can we adjust it for them? Is there an entirely new word for "yoga" as we know it?

More questions than answers – and it starts with self-inquiry.

The post Considering Yoga in the West: Is it Really Yoga? appeared first on Yogapedia.

With clients who identify as having anxiety, or depression – this can totally produce even more anxious or depressed thoughts, and unintended feeling of failure.

The common misunderstanding is that meditation is only effective, or done right, when the mind becomes completely thoughtless.

From a yogic perspective, when we talk about meditation we could be talking about pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, or the blissful state of oneness: samadhi.

Technically speaking, dhyana is the Sanskrit word that most closely translates to word meditation.

Read: Dharana and Dhyana: Misconceptions of Meditation Explained

Yet, when most people hear the word "meditation" it seems like they are often thinking of samadhi. They imagine a blissful and quiet mind, at one with all that is.

And when they don't reach this elusive goal, they can get pretty bummed out.

When I am introducing the concepts of meditation to people who want to better support their mental health, I encourage starting with pranayama – control of the breath. After, I may lead them into pratyahara – the withdrawal of the senses.

To the general public this is meditation. And meditation, in this sense, does not have the objective of becoming thoughtless. It is aimed to practice awareness of the breath, and of the mind.

This is actually what mindfulness based cognitive therapy is all about, which has been shown in some cases to be as effective as antidepressants in treating depression (Kuyken et al., 2008).

Here are three ways you may find a meditation practice to be supporting your mental health:

1. You Become Aware

We are on autopilot… pretty close to all the time. We react to situations in ways that we have previously learned. We do this over and over and over again, even when it isn't working for us in the ways we desire.

We cannot make changes in our behaviours until we are aware of what they are, as well the underlying thoughts and feelings that may be driving them.

2. You Might end up Thinking Less

Okay, so while becoming thoughtless is not the goal, thinking less is sometimes a pleasant side effect.

The limbs of ashtanga yoga progress through a path in this such way. After control of the breath (pranayama) comes withdrawl of the senses (pratyahara). It is only by practicing the preceding limb that we can move into the next.

We finally wind up at the last three limbs – dharana, dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (enlightenment) – which, united, are "sanyam" (to control).

Starting to practice pranayama by simply listening to guided breathing "meditations" gets us closer to calming our mind enough to sit quietly in pratyahara.

We ready ourselves to turn inward and observe the mind. We move towards control of the mind, which is highly valuable to becoming mentally healthy.

We teach ourselves that even without changing the outside circumstances of our lives, we can reduce our own internal sense of anxiety and stress. This is a huge benefit to our mental health because it gives us more tools to use, regardless of how challenging our external circumstances may be.

Read: 4 Pranayama for Combatting Anxiety

3. You Can Become Your Own Best Friend

This one cannot be understated. In a society of constant comparisons and distractions, our egos are often looking for that next hit of external validation. We can often lose ourselves in the process.

When you become more aware of your mind and get to know yourself more intimately, you start to notice your likes and dislikes. You get to know what makes you tick.

Having this awareness is crucial to building a life that you desire and enjoy. With awareness, you can learn to live in accordance to your self discoveries and live a life with more integrity. You might start to feel like you have the self awareness of a ghost, similar to Hanako.

Self love and self compassion are keys to overall mental health and happiness. Most of us are unaware of the level of self-shaming we do, sometimes on a daily basis.

Through meditation, we learn to practice observation without judgment and this skill helps us to move towards healthier patterns of thinking. Shame is a toxic poison that actually keeps us stuck.

The more we can meet ourselves with gentle kindness, the easier we can support new healthy habits, thought patterns, and beliefs

Read: 3 Mindfulness Techniques to Help You Break the Strings of Negative Thoughts

You Are Not Meditating Wrong

As a society, we just might be misusing or misunderstanding the word "meditation", but, no, that does not mean that we are meditating "wrong" if our mind is distracted.

It is a process.

It is a practice of watching our busy minds. The result is often better control of the mind – but this happens through consistent practice and over time.

The truth is, we are humans who think. My meditation teacher once told me that the mind is addicted to thinking just like the nose is addicted to smelling. That's just what it does.

Meditating helps us to come out of autopilot and see our inner workings for what they are. If you are trying your best to observe your breath, your thoughts, and trying to bring the runaway mind-train back when it wanders off its track – you are doing just great.

Achieving samadhi is not going to happen in this life for a good majority of us. Taming our "monkey mind," alleviating stress, shining light on our unhelpful patterns of thinking, acting, and feeling – now those are achievable through meditation practices.

In this case, practice does not make perfect – but it may make us mentally healthy.

The post 3 Ways Meditation Can Improve Your Mental Health appeared first on Yogapedia.

When it comes to anxiety, one of the most impactful tools is using the breath. Becoming mindful of breathing can allow for physiological and mental shifts that can alleviate anxiety.

What Is "Anxiety"?

First, I want to mention that "anxiety" has recently become sort of a buzzword.

Mental health is something that is very fortunately becoming more talked about which is very helpful to reduce stigma.

But it is important to understand that when people say "anxiety," it does not always mean they are talking about a diagnosable anxiety disorder.

There are a certain set of criteria that doctors and psychiatrists look for when diagnosing an anxiety disorder. These can include:

• Excessive worry for a period of six months or longer
• Impaired concentration
• Difficulty sleeping
• Irritability
• Increased muscle tension
• And many other possible symptoms.

However, generally speaking when using this word as part of the English language, "anxiety" can be synonymous with "worry" or feeling "nervous." This distinction is crucial for us to acknowledge and it is not something that everyone understands clearly.

In our current culture, we are consistently connected through the internet. Along with this comes the expectation of being constantly available and reachable.

An unfortunate consequence is that we are often overstimulated and not able to properly rest and relax our minds. This has produced a lot of anxiety in our modern culture.

The important thing is to become aware of your feelings of anxiety and take measures to alleviate them so that they don't develop into symptoms that could be classified as a full blown anxiety disorder.

Here, I will present some pranayama that are recommendable for working with anxiety. Using them can be preventative measures to keep your anxiety in check. They may also help to alleviate any discomfort if anxiety starts to become unmanageable.

Read: How Meditation can Help Soothe Your Stress and Anxiety

1. Anulom Vilom (Also Referred to as Anuloma Viloma and Nadi Shodhana)

This is my personal favorite pranayama for anxiety. It is alternate nostril breathing. Sometimes it's done using a certain ratio and the hands in certain mudras.

For example, breathing in through one nostril for a count of four, holding the breath for a count of 16, then releasing the breath through the opposite nostril for 16. This ratio can be very challenging for beginners and remembering the ratio can often produce more anxiety for beginners as well!

A side note: There is a lot of debate about whether anulom vilom and nadi shodhana are the same thing. While they are taught in varying ways, the essence is always the same – so don't let this be another source of anxiety!

Here is an easy beginners way to practice this pranayama:

1. Sit with an erect spine. Your left hand on can be placed on the left knee. Set a timer for between one and 10 minutes. You may want to start with just one or two minutes and work your way up to longer.
2. The right hand thumb closes the right nostril. (If you like, you can form Vishnu mudra with your right hand.)
3. Inhale through your left nostril, then use your two smallest fingers to close your left nostril.
4. Hold the breath.
5. Exhale through the right nostril.
6. Repeat for the opposite side. Inhale through the right, close, hold, and exhale through the left.

You can add in a ratio of breaths once you get the hang of the technique. You may want to start with this easy ratio: 4-4-4. This means counting your inhale for four, holding for four, and exhaling for four.

If you are able to introduce the ratio 4-16-8 (inhale for four, hold for 16, and exhale for eight) then you will be giving yourself an opportunity to reduce your heart rate.

Reducing the heart rate is a key component of alleviating anxiety. When an exhale is elongated to be longer than the inhale, the heart rate typically decreases.

When we are feeling anxious, usually our sympathetic nervous system is activated and our heart rate has increased. This process of deepening the breath, especially on the exhale, allows for activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, which signals to the body that it is safe to rest.

Read: Hidden Magic: The Power of Nadi Shodhan Pranayama

2. Full Yogic Breath

This pranayama can be down sitting or laying down. It is easiest to try laying down first. It is a three part inhale and three part exhale to create a full yogic breath.

1. Inhale into the belly
2. Inhale into the ribcage
3. Inhale into the chest
4. Exhale from the chest
5. Exhale from the ribcage
6. Exhale from the belly

This pranayama teaches us to focus on our breath and use our full lung capacity. Focusing on the breath calms the mind, and breathing this deeply supplies our body and brain with the oxygen it needs to calm anxiety related tension.

Read: Dirgha Pranayama: An Introduction to 3 Part Breathing

3. Ujjayi Breath

This breath is also known as "ocean breath" and is done by taking a deep breath and then creating a sound in the back of the throat while breathing out a long deep exhale.

I've included ujjayi pranayama because anytime we bring our focus back to our breath, we are better able to focus and calm the mind. It may also soothe anxiety by decreasing the heart rate.

Read: 5 Ways You Can Naturally Relax With Just Your Breath

4. Bhramari Pranayama (Bumblebee Breath)

Bhramari pranayama is done by exhaling in a way that sounds like a bee's buzz. Setting a timer can also be helpful for this practice in order to set aside a certain amount of time and be as present and focussed on the practice as possible.

1. Place your index fingers into your ears
2. Inhale through the nose
3. With the mouth closed, making a humming noise while exhaling
4. Repeat as many rounds as you like or until your timer goes off

This practice stimulates the vagus nerve and has been shown in a 2010 study to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, thus decreasing anxiety.

Read: Bumblebee Breath: The Power of Bhramari Pranayama

Our Connection to the Present Moment

Some say that anxiety is based in the future. Using pranayama to connect to our breath allows us to anchor ourselves into the present moment.

We are alive now.

We breathe in the oxygen from the trees exhalation, and breathe out carbon dioxide to supply the trees inhalations.

We are living in unity with nature in the here and now.

Bringing our awareness to this allows us to be present, breaking us free from the stream of thoughts that are creating or contributing to feelings of anxiety.

These pranayama also physically calm our bodies by giving them the oxygen they need.

The post 4 Pranayama for Combatting Anxiety appeared first on Yogapedia.