Have you ever tried Yoga before? There are many different styles of it. Yoga has been used for centuries in Eastern Cultures as a way to find tranquility. Recently in the last few decades its found its way to Western Medicine and has been backed by empirical evidence. It’s hit Hollywood in big hits such as “Kate and Leopold,” “Easy Come Easy Go” (1967 movie with Elvis Presley), “Bridget Jone’s Baby” (2016), “Eat, Pray, Love” (2010) and more. Yoga gyms and hot yoga spots have spread like wildfire across the States. As of November 2018, Google says there are 6,000 yoga gyms across the US and approximately 300 million yoga practitioners in the world.
This blog is dedicated to mental health practitioners and mental health patients that want to learn more about yoga and how to incorporate it into your daily lifestyle. I provide personal and professional experiences, I share what science says about yoga and if you stay to the end, I share about a program I designed myself.
#1 Tranquil Way: 💃🏽 🏃♀️ 🤸♀️ 🧘♀️ 🙏What does it look like to have depression and participate in yoga? Yoga is known as a physical exercise that utilizes deep breathing, meditation, and different body poses.
According to Harvard Health, that yoga can help manage symptoms of mental illness, specifically, depression. “For many patients dealing with depression, anxiety, or stress, yoga may be a very appealing way to better manage symptoms. Indeed, the scientific study of yoga demonstrates that mental and physical health are not just closely allied, but are essentially equivalent.”
Personally, I’ve found that yoga helps me to be less stressed, to be able to focus on the tasks at hand, and ultimately feel happier. The nice thing about yoga is that you don’t need to do all of the strenuous techniques (though they’re great too) to see a benefit, and you get to learn to listen to your body while still getting the relief of stress.
Overall, here are some benefits of using yoga to help better manage your depression. The first is that it’s shown to help with your mood, so that can decrease symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, etc. Another benefit is that yoga is customizable to fit your current abilities, so no matter your experience level you can partake.
Have you ever done yoga to help with your depression or mental illness? If so, did it help? We’d love for you to Tweet us @MoveHappyTeam and we’ll retweet the most unique Yoga images and give you credit!
#2 Tranquil Way: 💃🏽 🏃♀️ 🤸♀️ 🧘♀️ 🙏 Know what hope looks like and how Yoga can be that source of hope for those struggling with mental illness.
Mental illness comes in all different forms, and it never looks the same to one person or the next. We can’t determine the level that someone is struggling by just looking at them, but here are some of the most common symptoms that I witnessed while having friends and family that struggle with depression.
The symptoms include deep sadness, slowness in activity, lack of concentration, social isolation, sleeping too much or too little, and losing interest in activities that were once enjoyed. It’s important to remember that I’m not a licensed professional, and these are just the symptoms that I know the people in my life have struggled with. Not everyone will have these exact symptoms, as everyone’s depression is different.
Even though it can be difficult to get the motivation in the moment, by doing some type of physical activity, like yoga, it will help you to feel better overall. Through my sports nutrition class, it shows that physical activity can increase serotonin production, which is proven to help with mood.
I want to challenge you and myself to find sometime this week to focus on incorporating yoga into our day, even if we are just beginners. I know that it can be difficult to find the motivation to do this, so start small. Maybe you just start with meditation and deep breathing and you work your way up. It doesn’t matter where you start, just that you make the effort.
Tag us in your Instagram Story @TheRealMoveHappy if you’re with us in this challenge! We’ll share your story to our community and give you writer’s credit!
#3 Tranquil Way: 💃🏽 🏃♀️ 🤸♀️ 🧘♀️ 🙏 Know the global usefulness of yoga for providing a sense of hope and peace.
The website, Science Daily, wrote an article talking about the research that the Journal of Psychiatric Practice has been doing for yoga and treating depression. “A group of 30 clinically depressed patients were randomly divided into two groups. Both groups engaged in lyengar yoga and coherent breathing with the only difference being the number of instructional and home sessions in which each group participated. Over three months, the high-dose group (HDG) spent 123 hours in sessions while the low-dose group (LDG) spent 87 hours. Results showed that within a month, both groups’ sleep quality significantly improved. Tranquility, positivity, physical exhaustion and symptoms of anxiety and depression significantly improved in both groups, as measured by several validated clinical scales.”
The evidence that they’ve been able to track has been showing promising attributes to help treat depression, which can be a great option for people.
I’d love to hear from you guys if you’ve tried yoga, and if it’s helped to alleviate some or a majority of your symptoms! Snap us your yoga images/videos @TheMoveHappy
#4 Tranquil Way: 💃🏽 🏃♀️ 🤸♀️ 🧘♀️ 🙏 Know the usefulness of yoga and potential solutions it can provide for people with mental illness.
With any therapy or treatment, it takes time, and yoga is becoming a promising tool to help combat depression. I want to encourage you to start small, and work your way up. If you’re just trying yoga for the first time, maybe try a guided meditation to practice deep breathing once a day, and from there keep building upon that. Whether you want to continue just the meditation with deep breathing, or you try a yoga class, whatever you decide is great.
Remember though, if you’re able to do it one day but not the next, give yourself grace and show self-compassion to yourself. We aren’t perfect, and we will have some days that it will be easier to commit than others, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Tomorrow is a new day, and you can always try again!
Where are our new Yogis at? Tweet us @MoveHappyTeam a screenshot of this blog and a few sentences how you’re feeling after your first Yoga session! We’ll retweet the coolest tweets and give you writer’s credit.
Move Happy®️ Updates:
The Move Happy Movement Podcast© is in full swing! Together we are bringing awareness to mental health, providing practical strategies to empower those with depressed states to move towards their own happiness and inspiring the joy of movement! Next Monday I’ll be releasing episode 57 with Dr. Ken Kaufman (if Zoom reaches back out with my deleted file 😩). He and I connected on LinkedIn. He is the Founder of Sports Med On Demand, the Team Doctor for the Baltimore Orioles, and Co-Founder and COO of Well Connected. The episode will be released Monday by 6p EST. We had a Zoom glitch and the file got deleted by accident. We’re waiting to hear back from Zoom on file retrieval (going on 3 weeks now 🥴, they must be busy!). I was 331 in line for tech support so hoping they return the email request soon! Make sure to give Dr. Kaufman a follow on LinkedIn (link above) and let him know you want to hear his story.
Follow the Move Happy Movement Podcast©️ wherever you listen (iTunes and Spotify) and Tweet us @MoveHappyTeam if you’d like it on a different platform. The last few weeks my computer has not been converting files which Spotify requires (#TechSupportNeeded). With that in mind, listen to current episodes on iTunes or straight from the distribution website here.
Once we have 10,000 listeners we’ll be offering a sweet giveaway! A private concert by me and my cool singer 🎶 friends! (Check my TikTok @TheRealMoveHappy for examples of my genre preference). You must be one of the monthly listeners to qualify and be active in commenting/liking/sharing/tweeting Move Happy®️ content on any and all social media platforms (and leaving iTunes reviews 😉😉😉). The more platforms you follow Move Happy®️, the easier it will be for us to remember your name when deciding on random giveaways 🙌. We’ll keep things updated from the distribution website below ⬇️⬇️⬇️
More Updates:
The World Health Organization estimates that $1 trillion dollars is lost annually due to lack of productivity from employees specifically diagnosed with depression and anxiety and not receiving adequate resources from their workplace. I designed a solution to help decrease this statistic. “Work Happy: The Practical Tools For Effective and Inclusive Workplaces©” is in beta.
Employees will benefit from this because the workshop is designed with you as the main focus in a positive manner. Employers will benefit from this because people that are cared for work harder and take less sick days, thus increasing your bottom line 💰. The workshop includes a follow up refresher (2 days total). Next 2 businesses/EAPs to sign up get prioritized scheduling. Email me “Work Happy Workshop Interest” here to set up your Work Happy Analysis©️.
If you need services from Move Happy®️that can be provided by my team, that will be first priority. If you absolutely need to chat with me personally, I only have time for 1 for VIP client. Specifically, you look like a mental health practitioner/employer wanting specialized training in resilience/positive psychology. If that be the case for you, pay my $7,500/mo retainer rate here and email me your time zone and 3 days/times that work best with your schedule: subject line “MOVE HAPPY VIP CLIENT SCHEDULE REQUEST” to prioritize your email to the top.
Move Happy®️ Has Partnered With The John W Brick Foundation and the Chopra Foundation for a Special Mental Health Online Summit May 22-24, 2020. This is a 100% free event for anyone struggling with depression or knows someone that is struggling. There are over 70 speakers that will be providing positive encouragement, inspiration as well as musical entertainment during the 3-day event. All you need is internet access and an email to register. To sign up for this free event, go here.
#5 Tranquil Way: 
Know how Move Happy®️ can help those facilitating group therapy.
With deep sadness and depressed states, not only does doing workouts like yoga help with the symptoms, but so does journaling. I’ve created the Move Happy Participant Journal©, which is a 16-week journal (Mon-Thurs) that moves you towards happiness with pre-planned questions and lines to write your reflections. This journal has helped countless amounts of people through difficult times in their lives, and I want to be able to help YOU too! It goes along with the entire 16-week program that combines a variety of exercises that I designed and implemented in the most sensitive population in the world, a locked psychiatric hospital (minimal equipment needed).
My patients loved the journal, they loved working out and improving in their fitness too! They spread word around the hospital and soon I became known as the “Move Happy Girl,” earned a promotion and had a colleague facilitate the program during my training for the new position.
I was stopped in the hallway one day after group treatment by my colleague covering for Move Happy.
Susan said to me, “I gotta tell you, I absolutely love your program. The patients know exactly what to do and it’s super simple to run. ____ passes out the journals, _____ passes out he pencils _____ writes the journal prompt on the board and you’ll never guess who makes sure everyone has a chance to speak! ________ Mr. Grumpy pants. I love it too because I’m tired at the end of the day and I know the exercise helps me feel healthier.”
To purchase the journal the entire program go here.
40% goes back to mental health charities of YOUR choice and YOUR local chapter of Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
To the next ✌️that order from this blog, email me a copy of your receipt to Erin@TheMoveHappy.com subject line “Blog Bonus” and I’ll give you a bonus 30-minute consultation ($99 value).
So there you have it folks. Yoga can help pretty much everyone and especially those struggling with mental illness. Yoga can be done at very low cost at home with a little internet access. You can also join a few friends in a group yoga class (once it’s safe to be around people again). If you’re feeling brave you can even fly to Florida and sign up for a Sunrise Yoga class on the beach (donations accepted)! It is actually one of the most relaxing things I’ve ever experienced and I highly recommend. Lastly, if you’re feeling so inclined to order my Move Happy Facilitator Program©️, you’ll get included in the program a variety of workouts each incorporating flexibility and some stretch moves you might find in a class on the beach. You’ll also get access to the dope Journal that my patients LOVED and assessments to measure happiness and fitness. Right now the program is geared towards the group therapy practitioner. If you’re a mental health patient and you’re wanting your own program to do by yourself, we don’t offer that yet but email us and let us know you want it to Erin@TheMoveHappy.com subject line “Patient Program Interest.”
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog today. It would mean the world to me if I added any value to you if you’d share it with someone you care most about.
PS: Don’t forget to tell someone you love them today
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