Yoga Meets Depression
From the Mat comes forth Healing
Amy Weintraub asked the question in her wonderful book, for which I have learned so much, A Compassionate Guide to Relieve Suffering through Yoga, Yoga for the Oppression, “if depressive patterns developed prior to the acquisition of language, after we root out the depression solely through language? Recovery from depression must include the body.” According to Mayanna Ekberg, a psychologist who treat survivors of abuse, “A. body oriented treatment model speaks the language of these areas of the brain-sensation, perceptual experience and somatic responses.” Bodywork professionals coming from an array of backgrounds, Yoga and Massage therapists, as well as semantic psychologists share the theory that everything ever experienced in an individual’s life is stored within the body. As a Massage Therapist myself, I often will remind clients that the “issues are in the tissues”. The body recalls and stores recollection in the muscles even when distressing memories become repressed. International Yoga teacher and clinical psychologist Richard Miller sees depression as a somatic-based problem that has settled within the tissue. To this, he believes that depressed people need bodywork. “Yoga is an exquisite form of bodywork that eliminates the residue that has become lodged in the tissue.” Another psychotherapist, Lama Palden Drolma, founding teacher of the Sukhasiddhi Foundation, supports this fact with, “Yogic practices purify the energy channels (nadis) for the flow of life force and energy (prana). In the process, the sludge is brought to the surface. It is like cleaning the sewers. The psychological and emotional obstacles get flushed to the surface.” A regular yoga practice can provide an opportunity for the wounds in one’s life that have been “integrated in the tissue” to begin to melt. Yoga can help in the release of paint for experiences and traumatic events.
