HYDERABAD: Many often look to yoga to cure almost anything they suffer from, be it physical or mental. More and more people have turned to the spiritual practice to even deal with mental issues, the latest being bipolar disorder!The continuous cause of mood swings and changes in your behaviour can be reduced while involving yourself in yoga, say experts.
Sanjana Taneja Dixit, founder of Positive Ma, is a yoga Acharya from the tradition of Ashtanga yoga. Speaking about how and what kind of yoga one could practice if they suffer from bipolar disorder, she says, “Bipolar disorder is a condition marked by severe highs and lows in moods to the point that it causes problems in every day life. High periods or manic episodes are marked by abnormally high or irritable moods, along with increased energy and decreased need for sleep. Low periods are marked by low energy and depressed moods. The good news is that yoga can help patients and loved ones cope with this disorder. Yoga is fantastic anti-depressant and perfect mood stabiliser. It is psycho physical science which brings physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual well-being.”
She adds that yoga therapy helps most people with bipolar disorder gain better control of their mood swings and related symptoms. “Therapy and self-help strategies play important roles. The symptoms can be controlled by exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, eating right, monitoring the moods, keeping stress to a minimum, and surrounding oneself with supportive people,” she tells CE.
Some of the aasanas one can practice are: Utkatasna, Ushtarasana, Baddhakonasana, Paschimottanasa, Purvottanasna, Vajraasana, and Virabhadrasana Kamal Maliramani, founder of Energizer Yoga, Somajiguda, says that the breath and mind are like water and milk and cannot be separated. “Most people have taken up yoga when they were at their emotional worst, followed by some physical ailment, and had wanted to correct it. When talking about bipolar disorder, since it is related to mind and emotion, the whole aspect of how breath can change your mind, if understood properly and executed with surrender and devotion, yoga can help change the whole nueroplasticity in the brain,” says Kamal.
As people try to fix the whole system within themselves through yoga, the process can be time taking, which requires certain commitment and discipline. “The involvement of breath happens in aasana practices, pranayam and can also utilised for meditation. All the three phases utilise breath control and anyone going through such condition take benefit of all these three aspects keeping breathe in mind. The aasana practice not only involves physical exercise but breathing as well.
This will also help them become more confident. It is not that one can do all aasanas, pranayam and meditation in one day. Meditation is stronger than us, it is like the salt in food - a little here and there — and it can make or break a good dish. Meditation is pretty much the same — it is extremely powerful and has to be handled with lots of care. Attempt pranayam first and then, when you’re ready, take up meditation,” Kamal concludes.