Perform yoga asanas, or postures, regularly to help ease depression symptoms. Yoga may help relieve depression, according to Harvard Medical School. Check with your health care provider before choosing yoga as a treatment option. Remember that it should be used as an adjunct therapy, not as a sole intervention.
Effects
People who perform yoga regularly may report improvements in mood, possibly because of higher levels of the amino acid GABA, according to "The Telegraph." GABA levels are higher in those who do yoga than in those who do a similarly strenuous exercise, such as walking. GABA helps promotes calm in the mind and body. Low levels are associated with depression and anxiety.
Types
People with rajasic depression may experience agitation, anxiety, rapid breathing and quickness to anger. Rajasic depression requires a calming asana practice. Tamasic depression is characterized by lethargy, apathy and lack of energy. People with tamasic depression lack prana, or life force, according to Dr. Timothy McCall, a board-certified internist and the medical editor for "Yoga Journal." These people should focus on providing breath to the body with deep inhalations. Vigorous exercises, such as Sun Salutations, may be beneficial because they make it difficult to ruminate on depressive thoughts.
Paschimottanasana
Seated forward bends, such as Paschimottanasana calm the mind in people with rajasic depression. To perform, sit with your legs stretched. Your legs should be side by side with your toes pointed up. Stretch your lower back, and lift your arms. Look forward, elongate your back and keep your chest and your breathing free. Deliberately bend forward and stretch your crown upward without moving or tilting your legs. When you can no longer bend without bending the lower back, move your hands to your calves or feet. Lightly pull your legs and continue stretching. Keep your shoulders down. Stretch out your arms forward. Slowly lift your upper body. Keep your legs lying side by side and the toes pointing up. Sit straight up again, as in your original position.
Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
Back bends may benefit those with either rajasic or tamasic depression. Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, or Bridge Pose, can be stimulating and fight tamas, or darkness and delusion. To do this pose, lie on the floor and place a thickly folded blanket under your shoulders to protect your neck. Bend your knees. Exhale while pressing your inner feet and arms down. Push your tailbone upward toward the pubis, firming the buttocks and lift the buttocks off the floor. Keep your thighs and inner feet in line. Clasp your hands below your pelvis and extend through your arms to help you stay on the tops of your shoulders. Raise your buttocks until the thighs are about parallel to the floor. Make sure your knees are directly over your heels. Push them forward, away from the hips, and elongate the tailbone toward the backs of the knees. Lift the pubis in the direction of the navel. Raise your chin a little away from the sternum, firm your shoulder blades and push the top of the sternum toward the chin. Firm the outer arms, broaden the shoulder blades, and attempt to raise the space between them at the base of the neck up into the torso. Stay in the asana from 30 seconds to 1 minute. Release with an exhalation, rolling the spine gradually down onto the floor.
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