ELLEN TOUT DISCOVERS WHY YOGA IS REALLY A PRACTICE OF QUIETENING THE MIND, AND HOW THIS CAN HELP US OVERCOME TRAUMA AND OBSTACLES

Three years ago, my long-term relationship ended; I felt lost and didn’t know where to turn or how to cope. In the pub after work, my manager mentioned that she practised yoga and joked that the stress of the office would have turned her into an alcoholic if she hadn’t found yoga. Desperate to try something, I timidly ordered a DVD online, and a few days later tried yoga for the first time.

Lying on my mat, following the breathing patterns and tuning into things I didn’t realise my body could do, I felt normal for the first time in weeks. Since then, yoga has been a constant in my life – it’s helped me to manage stress, boost my self-esteem, find a supportive community and understand how strong my body, and mind, really are.

I’ve experienced first-hand how powerful yoga can be, and studies also show this. Boston University found that practising yoga twice a week can reduce symptoms of depression. A study by the University of Utah supports this, explaining that yoga’s combination of breathwork and movement helps ease stress, anxiety and depression by “reducing the impact of our stress response”. And the University of Waterloo also found that just 25 minutes of yoga a day can significantly improve our brain function and energy levels, helping us to control stress and knee-jerk emotional responses.

Although yoga is now quite mainstream, it originated in ancient India based upon an in-depth understanding of the body and mind, with practitioners learning about the “eight limbs of yoga”. But only one of those focusses on bending yourself into the downward dog, headstands and postures we typically associate with yoga – the other seven “limbs” are tailored around helping the mind and achieving self-acceptance, balance and control in your life.