by
Kirti Tarang Pande
What will make you more anxious; uncertainty of a physical pain or a promise of the physical pain?
In a study, participants who knew that they were going to get an electric shock for sure felt calmer. Whereas, the participants who were told that there are 50% chance that you may get an electric shock but there are 50% chance that you may not, felt more anxious and agitated. Evidently, uncertainty causes more anxiety than inevitable pain.
On any other day, this information would have surprised many of us. Not today. As we all face the uncertain times of Covid 19, teamed up with news of lay offs and salary deductions; we have first hand experience of what uncertainty can do to someone's mental health. Anxiety today is one the most prevalent mental health disorders. That's why,
mental health researchers like Olivia Remes of the University of Cambridge, argue that treatments such as psychotherapy and medication often result in poor outcome and high rates of relapses.
What psychotherapy and medications are failing to achieve, can Yoga reach there?
What equips Yoga to deal with anxiety - one of the most prevalent mental health disorders today?
Well, it's the fact that Yoga, doesn't use the word 'disorder'. The word that Yoga uses is 'vritti'. Sanskrit word, 'vritti' means a whirlpool. Yoga doesn't look at someone suffering from anxiety as a sick person. In the eyes of Patanjali Yogsutram (treatise on yoga), anxiety is a whirlpool arising in a person's mind. Yes, a whirlpool is powerful and chaotic. It causes destruction, but it doesn't have to. Can't there be a way to harness the energy of the whirlpool? Isn't it possible that instead of destruction, the same energy can be used for creating something meaningful? Yoga says, "Yes there is!"
For this we need to understand what is this undercurrent? Before we devise a cope up strategy, it's important to understand why uncertainty due to Covid 19 leads to anxiety:
What causes anxiety?
According to neuroscience, it's because of our survival instinct. Our brain is constantly updating the world around us. It's segregating the safe from the unsafe. When it encounters uncertainty it starts making up all sorts of untested stories hundreds of times a day because to our mind, uncertainty equals danger.
Now, the question is, today when all of us are facing uncertainty due to Covid 19, why some are suffering from anxiety and some are not? Why are some finding it difficult to cope with this anxiety and some are not?
According to yoga (Brihat Yogi Yajnavalkya Smriti), it is because of Vata Dosha.
Vata is primarily ether in substance and air in motion. When it is disturbed in our body it causes mental and nervous disorders by giving a chaotic energy to the thoughts that are moving in the space of our mind. However, same Vata when is well-aligned becomes life nurturing force.
Vata is primarily ether in substance and air in motion. When it is disturbed in our body it causes mental and nervous disorders by giving a chaotic energy to the thoughts that are moving in the space of our mind. However, same Vata when is well-aligned becomes life nurturing force.
In yoga lore, this is explained by example of Hanuman. He was a monkey, naughty, jumping here there but when he focused himself on Ram, he became the most powerful creature. One, who could jump across an ocean, lift up a mountain and then fly across a country with it… In essence, think of the strongest superhero that you can and Hanuman is stronger and immortal too!! He did not get stung by a spider. The potential was in him, he unlocked it by being focused on a meaningful and productive object.
That's what we are going to do. We are going to cope with the anxiety of uncertainty during Covid 19 by calming the disturbances of Vata in us and then focusing our Vata energy on something meaningful and productive.
Here are the 7 specific ways of doing it :How to channel Anxiety causing mechanism towards something meaningful and productive:
Calming the anxiety causing disturbances of Vata:
There are certain yogic asanas, which can remove excess of Vata, there by, helping us in coping with anxiety due to uncertainty.
Caution: This practice should not be exerting or exhausting but quiet and gentle. (स्थिर सुखम, Patanjali Yogsutram 46)
Best time for the practice: Yoga recommends us to do this before 6am. During this time the natural state of our body is most conducive for calming the disturbances of Vata.
Caution: This practice should not be exerting or exhausting but quiet and gentle. (स्थिर सुखम, Patanjali Yogsutram 46)
Best time for the practice: Yoga recommends us to do this before 6am. During this time the natural state of our body is most conducive for calming the disturbances of Vata.
How and which asanas to practice:
- The asanas practice should always start with the right mental attitude. So first put the mind and emotion in a calm resting place. For this, sit in Siddhasana or Vajrasana whichever you're most comfortable in. Close your eyes and bring your awareness to your breath. Feel the sensations of your breath and when you find that your breath has slowed down and deepened ; you know you're ready for the practice.
Siddhasana
Vajrasana - Vata accumulates in joints so rotate all the joints from toes to your neck 10 times each. This means your toes, ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers and neck. Remember, no rushing, be gentle. Try to keep your awareness on the joints that you're rotating.
- You must have noticed that I have skipped the spine in the list of joints. There's a reason for that. It's the seat of anxiety and if not done in the right fashion it triggers fight/flight response. Thus, instead of helping ourselves, we will be hurting ourselves. So please, don't be aggressive with your spine but be extra gentle here. Start with awakening the spine with Matsyendrasna. It soothes our nervous system. However, this happens only when the breath is full. If the breath is reduced even a little, it will increase the anxiety. Now the back bends. Do Bhujangasana and Shalabhasana; these small backbends are safest to practice. Please in a state of anxiety refrain from complete backbends, irrespective of your flexibility level. A slight mistake in technique, or deviation from right away of breathing or miniscule rushing can worsen your mental state. Now, back bends should always be complemented with forward bend. Shashank asana is the best for immediate relief and producing calm and stillness in mind. If you want to go deeper in cultivating stability and calmness of mind you can add Vrikshasana.
Ardha Matsyendrasna Asana
Image courtesy: Yogicwayoflife.com
Bhujangasana
Shalabhasana
Pranayam
Practice left nostril breathing. Do it for 21 times, it will soothe the anxiety.
Practice focusing:
Tridive yath pratishtitam: Prashna Upnishad.)
Now we need an object for concentration. Yoga recommends following objects for this purpose : Sun, yellow light of a ghee lamp, visualizing an image of or using a picture of a mountain, a lake, an ocean, lotus or rose, or something simple like gold or saffron color. You can pick any one of these objects that you find easiest to focus on and stick to it for at least 21 days. For me, it's thevrising sun and when I don't have access to that I light a ghee lamp.
Don't rely on temporary distractions
The above three practices were what we do on the yoga mat in the morning but that's just the rehearsal for the dance of life. Warm ups are essential for any dancer, but can a dancer say I will do only warm ups and not dance. The practice on the mat is the warm up, the following steps are the actual dance. It doesn't matter how well one does warm ups,the merit of a dancer lies in the dance, so pay attention :
Don't fill your days with distractions, they lead to denial. Denial gives an illusion of coping with anxiety, when in reality, it's just creating a ticking time bomb. Having fun is good, it's important as long as we are not acting as an ostrich and labeling it as having fun.
Our next step will help us do that
Practice mindfulness to Identity and tune out unproductive thoughts
I am not asking you to sit on a mat and practice mindfulness of breath. This won't help you. You need mindfulness of actions and thoughts (Gita 6.2). Outer is easier than inner, so start with mindfulness of actions. Whenever you're engaging in an activity ask yourself what's my intent here - to create distraction or there's something productive that can come from this? An activity itself isn't good or bad, it's our intent that makes it this way.
Next level is to check your thoughts, ask the same question is this thought productive or unproductive. If it is unproductive, throw it away, your mind isn't a dustbin. You can't prevent thoughts from coming, but you can choose what you do with them. That's in your power of discretion. Exercise it - ask yourself, can I do something about it? If the answer is yes, do it. If the answer is no then it's a trash thought, throw it away.
Develop habits and routines
As we discussed earlier, by giving a focus to our Vata we can transform the anxiety inducing energy into life affirming force. One way in which yoga recommends doing it is through establishing a routine. No routine is good or bad as long you have a routine. Don't make the routine too rigid, it won't be practical. For instance, I have 4am to 7am fixed for my asana, pranayam, meditation practice. I have my number of meals and times of meals fixed 8am, 1pm, 6:30pm. I have my bedtime fixed at 10. That's it. Any deviation from this is sacrilege for me, and for the rest of the day, I have freedom of choice. Another easy way of fixing a routine is suggested by Dharma Shastra. It says that assign your mornings for self growth, afternoons in pursuing material comforts and evenings for pleasure. Yoga also suggests some Vata releasing activities that we can incorporate in our routine like giving an oil massage with sesame oil to oneself before shower. Incorporating root vegetables. Using calming herbs like ashwagandha, tulsi and triphala. Avoiding all animal products especially milk and curd for three months.
Focus on gratitude
I often see people saying, “I am thankful for this and that”. Some people write it too. That's one way of practicing Gratitude, just not the Yogic way. Your eyes see the food, hand puts food in the mouth, tongue takes the taste which gets our digestive juices going, teeth chews it, stomach digests it and transforms it into the nourishment that our body needs. Now imagine our hand saying thank you to the stomach, does it make sense? Or eyes saying, dear hands you do so much work, you rest today, I will put the food in the mouth. Does it make sense? Yoga says that the best way to practice gratitude is by performing your role well. So, at night when you go to the bed think of one thing that you were grateful for today and then examine what was your role in that. There is always one. Then think how you can do that better tomorrow.
