5. Centering
• Candle Gazing (tratak)
• Visualization (bhavana)
• Breathwork (pranayama)
• Finger Yoga (mudra)
• Sound (mantra)
• Setting Intention (sankalpa)
Yoga is so much more than just moving
the body
6. Creating the Safe Container
“Crying is one of the highest spiritual practices.
One who knows crying, knows yoga.”
-Swami Kripalu
Sahaj
welcoming and experiencing
everything, just as it is
7. Yogic View of Depression
• Constricted Prana –
constrictions in all koshas
(the 5 bodies of yoga)
• Health = the free flow of prana
• Mistaken belief of
Separation – Avidya
9. • Tamas = inertia, lethargy,
heaviness
• Emotionally, this is can be
experienced as dysthymia
(mild, chronic depression),
lethargy, major depression.
• In yogic terms, it is best to
meet the tamasic state with a
slow, restorative practice,
then build to a more
energizing practice.
Meeting the Mood/Constitution
Understanding the Gunas
10. Practice for the Tamasic Mood:
Stair Step Breath
• In a seated or supine position, inhale in little sips or
steps of breath through the nostrils, filling the
lungs.
• Hold for four counts with visual image (bhavana)
and/or mantra.
• Exhale slowly for six counts.
• Next take a smooth six-count breath in.
• Hold for four counts with visual image (bhavana)
and/or mantra.
• Exhale through the nostrils in little puffs, as though
stepping down a mountain.
Yoga Skills for Therapists, Amy Weintraub, p.78-79
11. Meeting the Mood/Constitution
Understanding the Gunas
• Rajas = energy, action,
movement
• Emotionally, this can be
experienced as anxiety,
anxiety-based
depression, mania,
hypomania.
• In yogic terms, it is best to
meet the rajasic state with
vigor, then move to a more
calming practice.
12. Practice for the Rajasic Mood:
Pulling Prana
1. Stand with feet a comfortable distance apart
and inhale, raise the arms over the head with
palms facing each other
2. Exhale and pull the arms down toward your
waist, making fists with the hands. Knees
softly bent. 10 – 20x
3. Extend the arms out in front of the waist with
hands open as you inhale.
4. Exhale and pull the arms in towards you waist
making fists with the hands. Knees softly
bent. 10 – 20x
*Yoga Skills for Therapists, Amy Weintraub, p.83
13. Practice for the Rajasic Mood:
Pulling Prana – continued
5. Alternate the arms, as though cross-
country skiing. 10 – 20x
Follow with Breath to Stimulate the Nerves:
1. Inhale to two-thirds capacity as you extend
arms out from the waist and make fists.
2. Without breathing, pump the arms toward
the torso.
3. When you need to, release and breath
naturally.
Yoga Skills for Therapists, Amy Weintraub, p.83
14. Seeking Sattva – balance
Sattva is the principle of clarity, wideness and
peace, the force of love that unites all things
together. David Frawley, Ayurveda and the Mind
15. Overview of Biochemical & Physiological
Changes
• Decrease in cortisol levels (stress
hormone)
• Increase in GABA levels (primary
inhibitory neurotransmitter)
• Increase in HRV (heart rate variability)
• Increase in BDNF (neuroplasticity,
genetic expression)
• Demonstrated improvement in memory,
cognitive functioning, perceptual motor
skills, visual perception
16. Overview of Biochemical &
Physiological Changes
• Relaxes chronic muscle tension
• Restores natural diaphragmatic breathing
• Improves oxygen absorption and carbon dioxide
elimination
• Increases alpha and theta waves
• Regulates hypothalamus at an optimum level
• Certain techniques stimulate vagal nerve activity
• Bioavailability of oxygen and glucose, building
blocks for the production of neurotransmitters
• Calms sympathetic nervous system while
activating parasympathetic system
17. LifeForce Yoga® for Mood
Disturbance Study
• Between times one (before the LifeForce
Yoga® program) and two (two weeks after
learning it), participants reported:
• 64% decrease in total mood disturbance
(POMS)
• 53% decrease in average depression scores
(BDI)
18. LifeForce Yoga® for Mood
Disturbance Study
• 2 months
• Overall mood disturbance continued to drop
Bennett, S., Weintraub, A., Khalsa, S.B., “Initial evaluation of the
LifeForce Yoga program as a therapeutic intervention for
depression,” Intern. Jour Yoga Therapy, 2008
http://www.yogafordepression.com/IJYT-2008-Bennett.pdf
19. • Compared restorative yoga vs. gentle stretching and
found that at 6 months, the stretching group had
decreased cortisol at waking and bedtime compared to
the restorative yoga group
• The authors found significant decreases in salivary
cortisol, chronic stress severity, and stress perception in
the stretching group compared to the restorative yoga
group
Effect of restorative yoga vs. stretching on diurnal cortisol dynamics and psychosocial
outcomes in individuals with the metabolic syndrome: The PRYSMS randomized controlled
trial, Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2014 Jul 21;49C:260-271
Best Practice for Stress
May Not be Restorative Yoga
20. Yoga Outshines
Walking for Mood
• In a randomized controlled MRS study,
researchers at Boston University compared
study participants who walked three times a
week for exercise to a group assigned to three
weekly Yoga classes over a period of twelve
weeks
• GABA levels were significantly elevated in the
Yoga practitioners
• More mood improvements in the Yoga group on
standard psycho-social measurements.
Effects of Yoga Versus Walking on Mood, Anxiety, and Brain GABA Levels, J.
Complement Med. 2010, Nov. 16 (11)
21. Chanting Om Shown to Deactivate
the Limbic System
-Researchers compared 15 seconds of “OM”
(5 – O; 10 – m) to 15 seconds of the sound
“Ssssss…” and to 15 seconds of rest
-Significant deactivation in the amygdala as well
as other emotional areas only during ‘OM’
chanting
Neurohemodynamic correlates of ‘OM’ chanting: A pilot functional magnetic
resonance imaging study” International Journal of Yoga. 2011 Jan-Jun; 4(1): 3–6
22. LifeForce Yoga Nidra Improved
Depression & Anxiety
Twelve subjects received a LifeForce Yoga
Nidra to Manage Your Mood CD or on an MP3
player with two different length Yoga Nidra
instructions, one of 20 and one of 40 minutes
in length—3 weeks of home practice.
23. LifeForce Yoga Nidra Improved
Depression & Anxiety
Median BDI went from 30 to 16 at the third study visit,
representing a change in level of depression from
moderate to mild mood disturbance. BAI decreased
from 27 to 13, representing a change in anxiety from
moderate to very low
Effects of Utilizing Yoga Nidra on Reducing Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety in a Psychiatric
Population. J Am Osteopath Assoc. 2012;112(8):543. Abstract C19
24. Yoga Strategies – no mat required!
• Breathing Techniques (Pranayama )
• Creating Intention/Affirmation
(Sankalpa)
• Using Visual Imagery (Bhavana)
• Hand Gestures (Mudra)
• Mantra Chanting (Nada)
• Community (Satsanga)
• Nondual Strategies to balance the
opposites
25. References
1. Yoga Skills for Therapists, Amy Weintraub
2. Ayurveda and the Mind, David Frawley
3. Bennett,S, Weintraub, A, Khalsa, SB, “Initial
evaluation of the LifeForce Yoga program as a
therapeutic intervention for depression,” Intern. Jour
Yoga Therapy, 2008
4. http://www.yogafordepression.com/IJYT-2008-
Bennett.pdf
5. Effect of restorative yoga vs. stretching on diurnal
cortisol dynamics and psychosocial outcomes in
individuals with the metabolic syndrome: The PRYSMS
randomized controlled trial,
Psychoneuroendocrinology 2014 Jul 21;49C:260-271
26. 6. Effects of Yoga Versus Walking on Mood, Anxiety, and Brain
GABA Levels,” J. Complement Med. 2010, Nov. 16 (11)
7. Evidence Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine, 2007
8. Bangalore G Kalyani, et al., “Neurohemodynamic correlates of
‘OM’ chanting: A pilot functional magnetic resonance imaging
study” International Journal of Yoga. 2011 Jan-Jun; 4(1): 3–
612
9. Mankar S, Cruser dA, Jordan M, Ingram J, Brown S. Effects of
Utilizing Yoga Nidra on Reducing Symptoms of Depression and
Anxiety in a Psychiatric Population. J Am Osteopath Assoc.
2012;112(8):543. Abstract C19
10. YoginiRose Therapeutics –Yoga with Rose www.yoginirose.com
LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute - Amy Weintraub
www.yogafordepression.com
References Cont.
