How Yoga Impacts Mental Health

Mental health and well-being is our specialty at Miramont. From anxiety disorders and substance use disorders (SUD) to depression, schizophrenia, and comorbidity (dual diagnoses), we provide support for all mental health issues with respect, evidence-based treatment plans, and kindness. Our support services include the following:

• 24/7 physician supervision  
• Prescription medication management 
• Group and individual therapy
• Inpatient care programs
• Outpatient care programs

We’re also passionate about placing knowledge, education, and health library resources into our patients’ hands regarding best mental health practices. That’s why this blog post spotlights yoga and its benefits for mental health. 

Yoga is a practice that touches on nearly every component of our daily lives: mental health, physical well-being, and self-fulfillment. Here’s a quick overview of the most common yoga benefits for mental health:

• When practiced regularly, yoga has a therapeutic effect on people who suffer from PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
• Yoga can act as a type of supplement to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), as it helps reprogram typical thought patterns and replace negative cognitive habits with more sustainable, positive ones.
• Yoga can help increase mental and physical flexibility, strength, attention, self-awareness, and problem-solving skills.
• Yoga is associated with improvements in overall well-being, relaxation, self-esteem, body image, mood regulation, relationships, and optimism. 

The large number of benefits that stem from yoga is fascinating, especially because it’s a foreign practice with Indian origins. Keep reading to learn more about how yoga works, why it works, and how popular it is in Wisconsin. 

How Yoga Came to the United States 

Introductions to the ideas and philosophies of yoga first entered the American scene in the late 1800s with an Indian traveler named Swami Vivekananda. He made the leap from India to the States with an important idea that his guru had given him: all religions and spiritual practices are just one phase of the same eternal religion, and that overarching religion can be spiritually transmitted from one person to another despite nationality, race, mental health status, or otherwise. Vivekananda wanted to transmit positivity through yoga, and he did just that in a speech he gave at the World Parliament of Religions in 19th-century Chicago.

By the late 1960s, yoga had spread across the United States, from the vast and arid corners of the West to the buzzing economic hubs of the East. Swami Rama, an Indian guru who moved to the States just before the start of the 70s, ushered yoga into the medical and scientific worlds as a credible form of medicine. He displayed improved nervous system control through a series of tests conducted by a prestigious group of researchers, showing that his mastery of yoga allowed him to manipulate his heartbeat, pulse, and skin temperature at will.

Even in light of these medical advancements and groundbreaking insights spread by yoga, its visibility and popularity wouldn’t hit the mainstream until the late 90s into the early 2000s. 

Who Does Yoga in Wisconsin?

Yoga is for everyone who feels curious about exploring the unity of their mind, body, and spirit. It’s also for people who understand that practicing it is a supplement to self-care, other forms of exercise, and mental health hygiene—not a cure for intense mental illness. 

However, when we trace who participates most consistently in yoga classes and yoga studio enrollment, Wisconsin sees large groups of people aged 55 and above and women showing up to classes in higher numbers. The practice and business of yoga also bring together people from different industries: nutritionists, physical trainers, healthcare workers, chefs and caterers, beverage producers, retailers, educators, and more. 

Additionally, anyone who is interested in the following activities may take to yoga quickly:

• Breath control (especially helpful for anxiety and panic disorders)
• Improved postures (great for those who work at a desk all day)
• Meditation (great for people struggling with rumination and toxic thought cycles)
• Improving mental health for larger communities like students, parents, clinics, and employees in all fields

Explore Yoga in Waukesha and Middleton, WI To Help Improve Your Mental Health Today

We’re thrilled to let you and your loved ones know that practicing yoga regularly lowers stress, helps you manage anxiety successfully, works to decrease depression symptoms, and triggers feel-good chemicals. If you’re looking to up your self-care game and get healthier in the process, check out your local yoga studios. If you’re struggling with mental health or substance use, contact us today for treatment that will get you back on track.