How Might Yoga Therapy Improve Mental Health?

Yoga therapy has become very popular approach for improving and managing mental health. In general, yoga teaches people to achieve maximum balance, pleasant feelings and patience, and emotional and spiritual well-being. Yoga therapy helps to stimulate deeply-rooted parts of human body, find the true sense of their self-identity, and reveal their inner potential. In today’s world, the topic about yoga practice and its effect on mental health has become a controversial issue among researchers and psychological experts who continuously strive to find the correlation between yoga therapy and human mental health and well-being. Some studies indicated a number of positive impacts of yoga therapy on human mental health and emotional well-being, while other researchers found little promise in treatment of mental disorders and chronic illnesses. Many studies explored yoga therapy programs on young people and their emotional health, while other researchers devoted a great deal of work analyzing the impact on yoga practice on elderly population. Yoga therapy shows its positive effect on the individual’s self-esteem, managing emotions, moods, and behaviors, and nervous system as a whole. In general, analyzing the effect of yoga therapy on mental health, a vast amount of studies showed a number of benefits and improvements of yoga therapy on the individual’s mental health, treatment of depression, anxiety, level of energy and treatment of insomnia. Thus, many studies conclude that yoga therapy should be a part of health care facilities in order to eliminate negative symptoms, increase treatment effectiveness, and improve the quality of life among people with mental health problems. Today, yoga discipline is considered one of the most effective methods to cope with sleep problems, depressive disorders, stress and other mental health problems; yoga therapy continues to help people improve their emotional health, manage their moods and emotions, cope with pain, eliminate sleep problems, increase their level of energy and stamina, and enhance desire to live a life and achieve good results.

Some studies focused on yoga therapy and its impact on children’s lifestyle, communication, behaviors, and learning. In one study, researchers tried to explore mental health potentials of yoga activity and its effect on children and young individuals’ mental health and well-being. In their study, researchers insisted on modern technological advancement, the use of internet, and media and its negative, destructive impact on children’s mental health, emotions, and identity. Hagen and Nayar (2014) explained that in modern society, children and young people experience new standards of life, a lot of pressure, many duties and responsibilities, which in its turn, can cause a lot of stress. In other words, “exposure to new expectations and demands has the potential to create stress in young people’s lives, especially related to evaluation of their performances” (Hagen, & Nayar, 2014) Thus, they focused on regular yoga practice for children from very young age and explore how yoga activity can help young generation to eliminate the destructive impact of technology and regulate their emotional balance and cope with daily stress. They proposed research review and collected a set of studies about potential benefits of yoga on human mental health and managing emotions. Studies helped researchers to find reliable evidence, support their statement, and prove the positive impact of yoga therapy on children’s emotional health, moods, and behaviors. Hagen and Nayar (2014) found that yoga activity helps children and young individuals regulate their moods, feelings, and emotions, cope with challenges and daily difficulties, increase their self-esteem, and strength their indentify. In the study, researchers showed that “yoga provides training of mind and body to bring emotional balance… children and young people need such tools to listen inward to their bodies, feelings, and ideas” (Hagen, & Nayar, 2014). The study concluded that yoga activity can be a valuable and important tool for children and young individuals, which can help them to focus on learning, cope with stress and daily challenges, improve self-esteem, and eliminate negative feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. Hager and Nayar (2014) proposed that “pre-schools, schools, and community centers should offer yoga as part of the opportunities for children and young people to enjoy learning and practicing it from an early age” (p. 5).

As known, people who experience hard-work, never-ending race of time, and daily pressure often feel mental disturbances, exhaustion, lack of energy and emotional instability, which “eventually manifests itself as psychological and physiological stress with mental and emotional drain” (Ganpat, & Nagendra, 2011). Thus, in their article, researchers decided to explore integrated yoga therapy and its potential benefits for improving mental health in mangers who because of their work experience continuous competition, duties and responsibilities, which finally results in serious stress, depression, insomnia, and even severe mental problems. Researchers encouraged 72 participants aged 48-52 years old who continuously and suggested 5-day participation in yoga-based Self Management of Excessive Tension (SMET) program that required people to take part in yoga therapy, engage in lecture sessions, participate in group discussions and meditation, stimulate relaxation techniques, and “follow high-fiber low-fat vegetarian diet, and no caffeinated drinks, alcohol, or tobacco in any form” (Ganpat, & Nagendra, 2011). The researchers collected data and performed the General Health Questionnaire before and after the experiment evaluating somatic symptoms, the level of anxiety and problems with sleeping, the level of social activity, the symptoms/signs of depression, and the participants’ mental health and emotional condition in general. The study showed significant improvements and positive outcomes; all the participants experienced decrease in somatic symptoms, improvements in psychological and social aspects, and improvements in mental health in general. The 5-day SMET program helped people to reduce the feelings of anxiety, stress and insomnia, improve social functioning, reduce the signs/symptoms of depression, and significantly eliminate the medical complaints among the participants. In their study, researchers concluded that yoga therapy can lead to a number of positive effects on mental health status in managers, including their feelings, self-esteem, emotional intelligence, performance and workplace success.

In conclusion, analyzing and discussing the main differences and similarities between two articles, it becomes obvious that yoga therapy can bring a number of positive effects on emotional health and well-being among children and young individuals as well as adults with 46-51 years of mean age. Despite of the examination of different categories of population and their duties – children and young people who learn and entertain, and adults of 46-51 years old who experience stressful work as managers – both studies proved that yoga therapy can lead to a number of positive effects on human mental health, eliminate stress, aggressiveness, and insomnia. Comparing the two articles, studies used different methods to examine the impact of yoga on the individual’s mental health and social and psychological functioning, explored different age categories, but both articles came to the conclusion that yoga therapy helps both young people and adults to cope with daily challenges and duties, increase emotional balance, enhance focus, performance, and productivity, eliminate the level of stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms, and improve mental health in general. Further study is needed to better explore the impact of yoga therapy on deeply-rooted parts of human body, their undiscovered potential, feelings, and emotional health. It is also crucially important to study the effect of yoga activity on chronic mental illnesses and disorders like long-lasting depression, trouble concentrating, fears, and suicide attempts.     

References:

Ganpat, T. S., & Nagendra, H. R. (2011). Integrated yoga therapy for improving mental health in managers. Industrial Psychiatry Journal20(1), 45–48.http://doi.org/10.4103/0972-6748.98415

Hagen, I., & Nayar, U. S. (2014). Yoga for Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Well-Being: Research Review and Reflections on the Mental Health Potentials of Yoga. Frontiers in Psychiatry5, 35. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00035

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

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freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]
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