World Mental Health Day is celebrated on October 10th each year with the aim of raising awareness of mental health problems worldwide and activating efforts in support of mental health.
This year’s World Mental Health Day comes at a time when our daily lives have changed significantly in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic has brought a lot of uncertainty to everything and everyone. Many people work from home, their routine has changed, some complain about changes in the sleep cycle, others complain about depression and anxiety caused by the long lockdown of the previous months. And here comes the role of yoga – not to become passive about everything, but to accept what is.
Research suggests that yoga and regular physical exercises increase relieve stress, reduce muscle tension, effort and inflammation, sharpen attention and concentration and calm the nervous system, and relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety.
The practice of yoga, even if only for a few minutes a day, plays a fundamental role in the physical and mental health of each of us. Yoga has been considered the oldest practice to deal with stress and anxiety because:
- It improves the general mood by increasing serotonin production,
- It reduces stress
- It helps you to develop a strong self-confidence: you become more confident and learn to judge yourself less
- Relieves anxiety
We would like to suggest 5 yoga poses that can be useful whenever you feel anxious or stressed:
- Balasana (Child’s pose) which stimulates the nervous system and re-energises our bodies. This pose you can find in most of the the sequences in the Gotta Joga app.
- Setu Banda Sarvangasana (Bridge pose) helps to strengthen the back muscles and relieves back tension. It opens the heart, making you feel light and comfortable. The pose in the photo is by our teacher Valentina in the “Introduction to Vinyasa Yoga” programme (available in Italian at the moment).
- Halasana (Plow pose) Helps to calm the mind, gives a good stretching to the body and reduces stress. Keeps away headaches and insomnia. Pose here in the photo is done by Giuseppe Panarello and can be found in the “Intermediate Ashtanga Yoga” program.
- Viparita Karani (legs up the wall pose) is the queen of regenerating poses to improve blood circulation and relax the mind. Position in the photo is done by Anu Visuri, can be found in our “Evening Programme”.
- Savasana (corpse pose) to relax and regenerate our body and mind. You can find it included in most of the the sequences in the Gotta Joga app by all of our teachers.
Namastè!
The Gotta Joga Team