Yoga offers a wide range of physical and emotional benefits. Several studies have shown that yoga can help regulate moods and offers a natural way of dealing with anxiety and depression. Although a general yoga practice offers benefits, there are specific asanas and sequences that offer benefits for anxiety, depression and stress relief.
Yoga for Depression and Anxiety is a DVD that is designed for individuals coping with anxiety and depression. The DVD has an introduction by Ira Israel, noted yoga instructor. The introduction contains words of wisdom about anxiety and depression and advice and techniques to reduce stress in your daily life and put anxiety and depression into perspective. The introduction workshop is followed by a yoga practice.
The DVD contains a 75 minute yoga class designed to cultivate peace of mind and relieve anxiety and depression. The practice is designed to be accessible to students of all levels. The instruction is clear and easy to follow along. Of course, you will need to modify the poses and rest when needed, as you should with any DVD or class.
The practice contains flowing sequences of poses with breathing exercises to calm the body and mind. The movement between the poses is slow and calm, compared to some vinyasa and power yoga classes with fast paced sequences.
The overall atmosphere of the practice is designed for relaxing and releasing tension and anxiety. The calming music in the background and focus on breathing and remaining in the present moment throughout the practice cultivates relaxation and helps to relieve anxiety and stress, while lifting the mood.
This yoga DVD has the right balance of talking to provide cues, but not over talking during the practice. If you find too much instruction and commentary to be distracting in other DVDs, this one is a good choice.