International Mental Health Awareness Month: Using Yoga to Navigate Your Emotions
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Yoga offers an integrated approach to emotional well-being by helping us connect the body and mind through breath, movement, and awareness
May marks International Mental Health Awareness Month—a powerful reminder to nurture not just our physical health, but also our emotional well-being. Mental health is not just a concern for business professionals or the urban working class; it matters deeply for individuals from all walks of life—homemakers, students, caregivers, and rural workers alike. Our ability to process emotions, manage stress, and find inner balance has a profound impact on how we live, relate, and thrive. Indira C H, Yoga Expert, cult shares all you need to know:
The Mind-Body Connection through Yoga
Yoga offers an integrated approach to emotional well-being by helping us connect the body and mind through breath, movement, and awareness. It's well known that our emotional states show up physically—slouched shoulders when we're sad, clenched jaws when angry, or tight hips and shallow breathing during stress. These bodily reactions are often unconscious, but they reinforce the emotional states they accompany.
The beauty of yoga lies in its power to reverse-engineer this process. By mindfully opening the body through postures and consciously regulating the breath, we can influence our emotional states. Expanding the chest, grounding through the feet, or simply inhaling deeply can signal safety to the brain, thereby calming the nervous system and helping us process difficult emotions more effectively.
Asanas to Release Emotional Tension
Several yoga poses can help release physical tension associated with emotional stress and promote a greater sense of inner calm:
● Balasana (Child's Pose) – A gentle forward fold that soothes the nervous system and encourages a sense of safety and introspection.
● Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall Pose) – A restorative inversion that enhances blood flow to the brain, relieves anxiety, and soothes the mind.
● Setu Bandhasana (Bridge Pose) – This calming backbend opens the chest and shoulders while stimulating the thyroid and calming the brain.
Breath as the Bridge
Our breath is the most accessible tool for emotional regulation. Throughout the day, we fluctuate between the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). In today's fast-paced world, many people remain stuck in sympathetic overdrive, leading to chronic stress and emotional burnout.
Simple breathing practices—like pausing to take a few conscious deep breaths—can restore this balance. A particularly effective technique is to breathe in a 1:2 ratio (e.g., inhale for 4 seconds, exhale for 8 seconds). This rhythm encourages parasympathetic activation, calming the body and mind almost instantly. Practices like Anulom Vilom (alternate nostril breathing) and Bhramari (Humming Bee Breath) further deepen this balance, helping reduce emotional overwhelm and bring clarity.
Yoga invites us to meet our emotions with compassion and awareness. By tuning into our body and breath, we can navigate emotional highs and lows with greater ease. Whether you're facing daily stress or deep emotional unrest, integrating yoga into your routine can create the inner space needed to reflect, reset, and move forward with resilience.
First Published:
May 12, 2025, 19:55 IST
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