Yoga is commonly associated with a variety of benefits – physical strength and muscle tone, flexibility, relaxation, release, focus and more – all positive effects that might help us better navigate and move through life. This is because yoga works with the body and mind as a holistic system, bringing attention to how we interconnect, how issues arising in the mind might manifest themselves in the body, and vice versa.

As the conversation around mental health continues to bloom in today’s society, naturally the practices of yoga are being suggested, shared and explored by more and more of us, as a way to alleviate struggles of the mind and better cope with certain ailments – stress, depression, panic etc.

Today, specifically, we want to talk about yoga and anxiety. As a studio, many of our students have shared their experiences with anxiety over the years, and in fact a lot of our teachers came to yoga as a response to anxiety, and now share practices that have helped them cope and overcome theirs!

While yoga alone cannot promise to fix or make anxiety disappear altogether, it can offer a way to better understand, navigate and work with anxiety, maybe even over time being able to transform it into something else.

We hope the below exercises help you with whatever you might be going through now and our friendly desk team is always on email (contact@trikayoga.co.uk) to make more suggestions or to explain things further if you would like…

Coming back to your breath

This might seem almost too simple, but when was the last time you sat down and turned your attention to your breath? Not trying to elongate it or to change it in any way, just simply stopping and noticing as you naturally breathe?

Breathing is something we do unconsciously, day in day out, marrying together each moment with its ebb and flow. Rarely though are we aware of it, conscious of this anchor that exists in us all. Regardless of whether it is shallow or deep, steady or all over the place, notice your breath, turn away from the anxiety that is flooding your thoughts, find some space from it in your natural breathing rhythm.

Once you’re anchored in the breath, you may wish to gently elongate it, coaxing the air deeper into your lungs as you lengthen the edges of your inhale, slowing it down, inch by inch, as it releases back out.

Often when we experience anxiety, we become trapped in the sympathetic nervous system – the flight or fight response that keeps us alert and ready for the danger being sensed – but awareness and elongation of the breath can do the opposite. Stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system with deeper, more conscious breaths can help us move into a more relaxed state of rest and digest, calming the body and mind.

Alternate nostril breathing 

On the topic of the breath, you may wish to try a more specific breathing technique. Anxiety can often overwhelm our systems, and a general awareness may exacerbate your feelings of anxiety if you find it particularly shortens and shallows your breath.

This is where exercises like alternate nostril breathing can really help. This is a breath control practice that many of us weave into our classes as a way to settle students and ground ourselves before we move. In Sanskrit it is called ‘nadi shodhana pranayama’ and it’s a really accessible technique that can provide a tangible way of elongating and slowing the breath.

To practice, we suggest sitting in a comfortable position, on the ground if possible, supporting yourself where necessary with blocks or bolsters. Lightly place the index and middle fingers of your preferred hand between your eyebrows, and find a comfortable position for your other hand on your knee or in your lap.

After exhaling everything out of your lungs fully, close down the left nostril with your thumb and begin breathing in through the right At the top of the inhale, close the right nostril with your ring finger, before relieving the left nostril from your thumb and exhaling. Then breathe back in through the left, close with your thumb and lift your ring finger to breathe back out through your right. This is one cycle, which you can repeat as many times as you like.

Supported forward fold

The asana (physical) side of yoga can be equally beneficial when working with anxiety, particularly in postures that stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, like we discussed above.

One of our favourites is a supported forward fold, a position you’ll often find in a Restorative Yoga class to help ground and relax students into their bodies and their practice. The drawing of the attention back in and the support felt from the bolster below can be extremely soothing and ease our bodies and minds away from what may be worrying us and towards a place of stillness and calm.

Begin by making sure you have a bolster or cushion nearby, and any other support you feel you might need to hold you comfortably in this gentle folded posture. Place the bolster vertically on your mat and settle yourself on your sitting bones at the bottom of it, legs stretched (in a comfortable way for you) out and either down either side of your prop.

Gently then begin to fold from the hips, softening your torso forwards until it can rest comfortably on your support. Let your arms naturally follow as they nestle down your sides, and take a few minutes landing here, enjoying the release and adjusting wherever needed.

We hope this little discussion of our thoughts around yoga and anxiety, and our suggestions for breathing techniques and postures, has proven insightful for you!

If you are struggling at all with anything and would like more suggestions around how yoga might help you, then we are always here to answer your questions and have a friendly, safe chat. Do drop us a line or better still, come and visit the studio and try out some classes for yourself!

Do check out our upcoming Yoga for Stress Workshop and Yoga for Anxiety Workshops here which we offer in person and online.

Trika Yoga is based on North street – a two-minute walk from Bristol Counselling and Psychotherapy. Why not pop in before or after your therapy session?