Yoga for Mental Health: Meeting Your Mood | Ep 13

In this enriching episode on yoga for mental health and trauma recovery. Liz Albanis delves into why this happens and shares how to alter your yoga approach if you're struggling with anxiety, depression, or trauma. 

Have you ever left a yoga class feeling more anxious or drained? Maybe you've struggled to stay still in savasana (final resting pose). Or found restorative yoga made you feel more anxious, rather than rested? You’re not alone

Through the lens of yogic psychology and trauma-informed yoga practices. Liz emphasises the importance of 'meeting your mood' at the commencement of your practice. Liz breaks down the Gunas (Rajas, Tamas, Sattva) to provide compassionate insights. For adapting yoga for trauma survivors and anyone navigating  mental health challenges. 

This episode is essential for:
- Anyone who’s felt worse after a restorative class.
- Yoga teachers supporting students with mental health challenges.
- Individuals dealing with anxiety, depression, grief, or burnout.
- Those curious about somatic yoga for trauma and nervous system regulation.

In this episode, you’ll learn about:
- Why stillness can sometimes trigger anxiety or depression.
- How different yogic tools can aid in addressing various mental health states.
- The myth that yoga is always calming and what that means for mental health.
- The potential harm in oversimplifying yoga as a solution for depression.
- The significance of somatic yoga for trauma release and emotional balance.
- How to adapt your practice using the wisdom of the Gunas.
- Personal reflections on Liz’s healing journey through yoga. 

Yoga is not a one-size-fits-all. Real change happens when we align our practice with our current mental, emotional, and energetic states. Whether you seek supportive yoga poses for trauma. Or wish to learn about regulating your nervous system through movement, you won’t want to miss this episode! 

Share this episode with someone who may benefit and subscribe for more inspiring conversations about the transformative power of yoga.

The content shared in these conversations is intended for informational and educational purposes only, and it is not suitable for listeners under the age of 18. Please use discretion and consult a qualified professional before making changes to your health or wellness routines.

If you’re interested in being a guest or know someone who might be head to my website: https://www.lizalbaniswellness.com.au/podcast/yoga-for-trauma

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Chapters

• 0:00 Yoga That Meets You Where You Are
• 1:37 When Yoga Makes You Feel Worse
• 2:26 Restorative Yoga is Not Always Good For Anxiety
• 2:52 Yoga for Trauma and Mental Health Essentials
• 4:13 Lifeforce Yoga Meeting The Mood
• 5:13 Yogic Psychology Basics
• 6:24 Depression versus Sadness and Grief
• 7:37 Yoga for Depression
• 9:10 Trauma-Informed Yoga Nidra
• 10:34 Yoga for Anxiety and ADHD
• 14:21 Balancing the Anxious Mood With an Intervention

Transcript

 You've been to a restorative class and you thought, why do I feel more anxious? Why do I just want to fidget? I can't relax, I can't find stillness, come out of the class feeling worse. If you've got someone who's suffering from major depression and just think they can just jump out of bed and do sun salutations. Let's be real here, it's not going to happen. In the end, we want to finish our yoga class in that state of yoga, that oneness, pure consciousness, bliss of Sattva. 

Welcome to The Inner Fire of Yoga, a podcast about transformation, resilience, and the power of yoga beyond the mat. I'm Liz Albanis, senior yoga teacher and yoga therapist in training. This podcast was born in 2024 after I survived my second fire. Fire has been a recurring theme in my life, not just in the literal sense, but as a metaphor.

It has asked me to burn away what no longer serves me to transform and to rise stronger each time. This podcast is about that fire, the one that challenges us, but also fuels us to grow.

Have you ever felt worse mentally after a yoga class or your home practice perhaps, than you felt at the beginning? Or have you struggled to find stillness in Shavasana? Or maybe you just dread Shavasana because you find you're restless and you can't find stillness? I've been there too. I've come out of a yoga class more agitated than before the class.

I've come out of a yoga class feeling lower than I did at the start. I've come out of a class feeling drained. Was it the teacher's fault? No. Am I complaining? No. Just reflect. Perhaps you might have also been told that restorative yoga or yin yoga are good for anxiety because of the stillness. Or maybe you've been told that yoga always improves your mental health.

Well, I'm here to tell you that it depends. Sometimes it can make you feel worse. Restorative yoga and yin yoga are wonderful styles of yoga on the mat, but they're not always good for anxiety. An important part of cultivating a yoga practice to improve your mental health, whether that's for trauma recovery, is meeting and balancing your mood,

In order to be effective, your emotional state, your mood. The Gunas in yogic psychology needs to dictate how you start your practice. It also should indicate what intervention you use to balance your mood.

In the end, we want to finish our yoga class in that state of yoga, that oneness, pure consciousness, bliss of Sattva. Some would argue it's not a yoga practice if you don't finish in that state of yoga. Some would just say it wasn't an effective yoga practice if you didn't finish in that state. And if this is the case for, you know that it's the case for many people, but it doesn't have to be. Meeting the mood is one of the foundations in Life Force Yoga. life Force Yoga was founded by Amy Weintraub, now Rose Kress owns and runs it,

Amy Weintraub is a pioneer in the world of yoga therapy yoga and mental health, and she wrote a book called Yoga for Depression and Equated Yoga to Prozac in an article for Yoga Journal, many years ago, and she's since written another book. On yoga

I'm so grateful to Amy Weintraub and Rose Kress for really ingraining this into me and explaining it so well, it's not always emphasized even in one-on-one training, like yoga therapy training​

A brief explanation here. Really simple one is with yoga psychology, with the Gunas, the yogic states. We have Rajas, which is energetic anxiety, fuel, depression, or just maybe anxiety. We have Tamas, the low mood, depression, melancholia. And then we have Sattva. Sattva is balanced equilibrium. They're all on a bit of a scale here, some yoga teachers will say they need to go through Rajas to get back into Sattva. If they've been Tamasic, to be really technical there. And the Gunas can be classed even further down than three.

So, if you're feeling Rajasic, anxious, pent up tension, what you need is completely different from what you'd need if you were Tamasic. If you were low in energy, low mood, melancholic.

 A lot of people just don't get how depression is different to mere, sadness. And there's a wonderful nutritional psychiatrist here in Australia at Deakin University in Melbourne called Professor Felise Jacka.

She wrote a book called Brain Changer and she equates depression to the Dementors in Harry Potter. How they suck all of the joy, all of the life out of you, and you can become numb. So, depression is different. I was sad after my mother died. I was very sad, but I wasn't depressed.

I was grieving. I could go on with my day. It wasn't getting in the way of my life. I could get out of bed easily, but I was just sad, that things were changing. She was no longer around. It was completely different to depression. Everyone's experience can be different as well.

A person can be so depressed, that getting out of bed is an absolute effort. not only do they not have energy. The willpower to literally get out of bed. It's futile to say to them, just get out of bed and do some sun salutations and you'll feel better. It can take a while to get out of bed. So, can you imagine saying to someone, oh, who's that depressed? Just get out of bed and do some sun sanitation and you'll feel better. It's going seem like you are asking them to climb Mount Everest, It's not going to happen. It can be really hard to understand that if you've never suffered such depression. But I've been there many times over the last 30 or something years and it can easily happen. It's very frustrating for those people around who cannot help the person. So, if you've got someone who's suffering from major depression. And just think they can just jump out of bed and do sun salutations., Let's be real here! It's not going to happen. It's a completely different ballgame to just sadness. And I'm not saying sadness isn't tough, but it's different.

So, it just needs to be approached differently.

So, if we're in a tamasic state, we start off slowly and gently. A few examples of this could be yoga nidra. And if you have PTSD, a trauma aware form of yoga nidra. Even if you suffer from mental health conditions, like you suffer from depression. Just note that there are different styles of yoga nidra, and the original style is not always suited to people with trauma or depression and anxiety.

They're not always trauma informed. The IREST practices, the Life force ones stem from IREST are really great styles of yoga nidra that take into account mental health more than the original versions. There are some gentle lying forms of energetic pranayama that can be used to start a yoga practice with the Tamasic state.

Then there are some gentle yoga poses that can increase the heart rate and expand the heart center. Maybe a good solution to start off a tamasic practice.

Now, on the other end of the spectrum, it's the opposite for someone who's. Anxious, not even on the verge of a panic attack per se, but just restless. they would be doing the exact opposite. Or someone like me who's got a DHD and hasn't had enough movement that day, they'll go to a restorative class and they will not feel the effects that. You're supposed to get out of a restorative class, relaxing and resting, renewing, replenishing, restoring. It is not in yoga, it is different. Most of the poses are held for a long time, even longer than a yin class.

I've been in restorative classes where I've held a post for 20 minutes. I've only done that a couple of times in in class. That was on a teacher training. You might be listening to this episode. And you've been to a restorative class and you thought, why do I feel more anxious? Why do I just want to fidget? I can't relax. I can't find stillness, come out of the class feeling worse. It's probably because you were too anxious to go to that class and you needed to meet your mood where you were with some movement, some other yogic practices. First before you went to that restorative class, And I've had this happen when I've taught a restorative class and I've had this student, she struggled in yoga nidra. She struggled throughout the whole class to remain still in the long-held poses. she just was too anxious. She had all this pent up energy that she needed to get rid of before she could get the most out of that restorative class. And that restorative class is actually going to potentially make someone's anxiety worse. So, when people say restorative yoga is good for anxiety, not always. It depends. So, meeting the mood is really important, to calm yourself down. But the other important factor is this you don't want to bring in so much movement to meet that mood that you exacerbate your anxiety and make it worse. So that is key.

I'm not saying it's always going to be the case. You might be wired, but tired and the restorative class might help. But sometimes we've got too much pent up tension. We are too anxious or people who are on the verge of a panic attack and can't even breathe. Telling them to calm down is futile.

It's not going to happen. It's like telling a storm to settle! It just doesn't work. I've been there. Have you? So, if you see someone having a panic attack or someone restless, often can be futile to say, just calm down.

So for instance, if you are feeling rajasic, it's important to get rid of that pent up anxiety, energy tension first. Before you introduce an intervention. Movement may be postures, perhaps sun salutations. Perhaps certain forms of pranayama where you are moving, but pranayama, that's not going to exacerbate that anxiety.

And this becomes before an intervention, a balancing yoga practice is integrated. Another conversation for another time. Each person's experience is different, and if one practice works for someone else, that's great. Doesn't have to be the right practice for you. But you start to learn what works for you and what doesn't work as you become more familiar.

And then it can change again as you get injuries or as you get older.

If any of this resonated with you, know that you're not alone.

Thank you for joining me podcast. I hope today's episode has left you feeling inspired and informed and empowered to take meaningful steps towards your wellbeing. If there's a topic you'd like me to cover, or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you. Just fill in the form on the podcast page of my website.

Your voice is an important part of this journey. I want this podcast to reflect the conversations that matter most to my listeners. If today's episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who might benefit from these conversations. Don't forget to subscribe. It helps grow this incredible community of resilience and support.

Until next time, take care of yourself and never forget. The power, the possibilities of a regular yoga practice. See you soon