✖ taking time for myself: how yoga has helped my mental health?

✖ taking time for myself: how yoga has helped my mental health?

• Wednesday, 20 February 2019

HAPPY WEDNESDAY! We're in the middle of the week already, which I really do not fancy as it means that I'm in the middle of my vacation. However, the girls and I are off to Turku this weekend (again, I should really move my address to Turku by now), and I'm very excited about that.

Today I am here to chat about mental health issues and what has helped with me. Just remember, I am not a professional when it comes to these things (I'm just all kinds of fucked up) and what helps for me can help for you as well, though I don't mean it would. Also, I have a really dark humour and humour is the way I deal with slightly uncomfortable things, so when I'm making fun of me having anxiety and being depressed, it's making fun of me having anxiety and being depressed. Not everyone. Just wanted to let it out there before someone comes over and says "you can't make fun of mental illnesses" because erm, yes I can. If the fun is made about me.

Have you ever had a hobby that feels like your whole mental stability evolves around it? I mean, yoga does its tricks for me but when I'm not able to do yoga due to being ill or just being way too busy it goes downhill from there. So basically, I am mentally stable like an IKEA table but whenever I'm able to be consistent with yoga I feel like that table is able to pull out of being what it's meant to be. Stay together, be a table, hold on to that coffee cup. Without falling apart.

So today, I decided to share with you how yoga has helped my mental health.

✖ stopping to enjoy the moment
Yoga is a funny thing, you kind of stop for that moment and yet you're doing something. This is the reason why I'm not able to meditate, because I really need to focus my energy on doing something and sitting my eyes closed for longer than one minute does not do its trick on me. In yoga, you focus only for that moment, focus going from asana to another, and it's the definition for a quote "it's the journey, not a destination". It effectively empties everything from your shoulders, everything you've been carrying around.

✖ since starting, the amount of the panic attacks I've had has reduced
After starting being consistent with yoga, I rarely suffer from panic attacks anymore. I'm not saying yoga has directly helped me with my panic attacks, but when combined with the fact that I'm able to sleep better thanks to yoga, the amount of sleep I get has a straight connection to my anxiety and panic attacks.

✖ better sleep
I also suffer from insomnia at times and sometimes I'm living in a blur basically because I've gone for a full week with only 8 hours of sleep in total. Being consistent with yoga has helped me to sleep better and I've even created a little routine for each evening to calm myself down. Would anyone be interested if I shared it over here at the blog?

✖ helps me to deal with social situations
I'm a full-on introvert. Being in a place with people, working at a customer service job, being at uni with all my classmates, sometimes even spending time with my own family - it's sucking all the energy out of me. You know, extroverts basically live for those social moments. They gain energy from it. I, on the other hand, feel like I've done a 20k run after being stuck on a social situation for a bit too long that I can handle.
Also, getting into a new social situation gives me major anxiety. And there are two ways I've dealt with these things with yoga. When I'm home after a socially exhausting day, I do yoga. Before I'm off to a new social situation, I do yoga. It reduces the stress I am in and makes things a bit easier. It doesn't remove the anxiety completely, but it reduces it and I'm totally fine with that.

✖ learning new things
I love to learn new things and currently I'm trying to learn to do a handstand properly. However, it's still going to take a hell lot of practice as I also realised my arm strength is basically non-existent. But hey, I promised to be gentle to myself and we're getting there, me and my body - together & slowly.

✖ learning to appreciate my body
I'm going fully on the terms of my body. In yoga, you don't have to fit in this super yogi mould, and you can find whatever feels good for you. And while you're finding whatever feels good for you, you can still keep it challenging at the same time. You can move in your own pace and take your own time, no one is rushing you to achieve the things you want to achieve. There's no pressure.

What brings you on the mat?