Life is like a book and every new chapter brings with it a mixed bag of feelings, emotions and experiences.

While some experiences give bring us joy and happiness, others make us anxious, sad and depressed. It’s like a roller-coaster ride with continuous ups and downs, but that’s what makes it interesting, isn’t it?

When life gets overwhelming, instead of facing everything with a positive attitude, we tend to stress over bad experiences, difficult situations and unfavorable circumstances. This creates panic and tension within, and suddenly we are no longer the person we used to be.

We forget our good habits, our natural style of living and start to embrace negativity. That’s where depression starts to set in. If not treated early we can end up stuck in a depression loop.

Yoga for Anxiety and Depression: 6 Poses to Boost Your Mood

Yoga, the age-old science of life is undoubtedly one of the best ways to overcome those miserable feelings and adopt a positive attitude towards life. The physical benefits of yoga are numerous and so are its mental rewards.

For those who are able to maintain a daily practice of yoga – depression, anxiety, stress and fatigue are only distant memories.

So, let’s look at 6 yoga asanas which should be practiced on a regular basis to ward off anxiety and depression.

1. Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana)

Lie down your back.
The arms should rest by the side and the palms should be down.
Fold your legs from the knees, making sure that a few inches of gap is there between your feet.
Now lift your back from the mat and ensure that the thighs remain parallel to each other.
Stay in the position for as long as you can and gently release.

Apart from being a great reliever of pain from the back, Setu Bandhasana helps to alleviate stress, anxiety and depression.

2. Child Pose (Balasana)

Kneel down on your mat.
There should be a gap of a few inches between your knees.
Bend forward such that your forehead touches the mat.
Bring your arms stretched out in front.
Stay in the position for a couple of minutes and gently release.

Balasana is a well-known pose for relieving negative mental build-up. The asana also helps to stretch the hips and lower back helping the body to relax.

3. Downward-Facing Dog Pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

Stand on all fours in such a manner that your body forms the structure of a table.
Let out your breath and slowly straighten your knees and elbows lifting your hips.
The idea is to create an inverted ‘V’ shape with your body.
Your feet should be in line with the hips whereas your shoulders should be in line with your hands.
Press firmly on the ground, tuck your tummy and look at your navel.
Stay in this position for as long as it is comfortable and gently release.

The benefit of this asana is that it promotes fresh blood flow in the body. The cervical spine and the neck are also stretched to a good extent which results in the release of stress from these areas. Thus, the entire body feels calm and anxiety is reduced.

4. Upward-Facing Dog Pose (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana)

Lie face down on your yoga mat.
Place your palms on either side close to your chest.
Straighten the arms; lift the legs and torso from the mat (a few inches).
Keep the top of your feet pressed firmly on the ground.
Head should be kept straight or upwards and the shoulders should be away from the ears.
Maintain the pose till the time you are comfortable and release slowly.

The asana is best-suited for milder cases of depression but is better at relieving fatigue. The physical stress that is captured in the back is easily released with the practice of this pose.

5. Standing Forward Fold Pose (Uttanasana)

Stand in a straight position with hands by the side of your body.
Take your arms to your hips and bend forward.
Your chest and head should touch your thighs.
Now take your hands down and grab your ankles.
The thighs should be straight.
Maintain the position for a few breaths and release.

The tension from the neck, shoulders and back is removed with the practice of this pose. The functioning of the nervous system is also improved with its daily practice.

6. Plow Pose (Halasana)

Lie down flat on the back with the arms resting by the sides.
Lift the legs such that they make a 90 degree angle with the ground.
Now take your hands to your hip and lift the hips close to the chest by using the hands as support.
Now slowly take your legs over the head and place the toes above the head on the ground, firmly.
Thighs should be kept straight and remove the hands from the hips and keep them straight, stretched out forward with palms down.
Stay in the position for at least a minute and release.

Another pose great for reducing strain, felt in the back. Halasana is also good for calming the brain and keeping your mind relaxed.

Use this poses often to increase your health and mood, beat depression and get the most out of life.

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Eckart Tolle is one the leading spiritual teachers in the world today. Born in Germany, educated in England & now residing in Canada.

Eckhart Tolle is a #1 New York Times bestseller with, The Power of Now having sold over 5 million copies. Eckhart teaches us how to leave the analytical mind and recognise our false sense of self, which we believe to be the ultimate controller of our lives.

Eckhart teaches us..

“You are not your thoughts.“

Having suffered from crippling anxiety for many years. It wasn’t until the age of 29, that Eckhart Tolle experienced a spiritual breakthrough in the middle of the night, which was the catalyst for his spiritual journey to begin.

Eckhart Tolle has spent decades studying and deepening the understanding of his own breakthrough, Eckhart uses simple language to explain complicated shifts of perspective and thought process, which when utilised have the potential to improve our lives dramatically.

Listen closely as Eckart Tolle explains this simple process for becoming present to calm your racing thoughts.

Transcript | Eckhart Tolle – How To Silence Voices In Your Head

When we told you Eckhart would be coming on Super Soul Sunday. We heard the collective digital cheer online, you told us you had questions for Eckhart and he happily agreed to take a few. Laura one of our Facebook followers, wanted to know, how to calm the voice in her head. She writes “I feel like my mind is racing an enormous speed and at night it’s even worse.”

“How can I stop the constant stream of consciousness in my mind.”

Good question, many people will be thankful for that question. So first of all the question implies that you know that your mind won’t stop. If you are totally immersed you’re so identified with your mind, even the thought that your mind won’t stop, doesn’t even occur to you because you become your mind.  You don’t know that it is your mind, that won’t stop. So Laura that’s a big, that’s.. you’re ahead of the game. The fact that Laura knows that her mind won’t stop is a good thing.

It’s a good start, so when you hear the thought “Why can’t I stop my mind.”

Don’t believe it, because you can stop your mind.

How?

You can choose to take your attention away from thinking, and the first thing you do as you lie there in bed, you ask yourself, can I feel the energy inside my hands? In other words, can I feel that my hands are there without touching anything, can I feel that there’s an energy inside my hands and after a little while most people can.

There’s a slight tingling or liveness that you can feel when the energy goes in there and that’s an enormous step that you’ve already taken, because immediately thinking will slow down. Because it no longer has your whole attention. Got it. Then see, can you incorporate the whole body. Can you sense your legs and arms? So why does that work and not just, Laura saying to herself, let me think about something else.

There’s no anchor then for presence and the mind has such momentum that you won’t be able to stop it.

You need an anchor for presence

And the inner body as I call it is a wonderful anchor for the state of presence. Laura I hope you got that too, that’s why you just can’t say, “Okay I’m gonna think about something else.”

Yes, and then.. You have to actively choose.  Not about something else, just go into the body and then thinking slows down, you might even stop completely for a while, and the amazing thing is what before was an unpleasant dreadful sleepless night, within a few minutes can actually be transformed into a very pleasant experience of feeling the inherent and aliveness in your whole body, and you lie there..

Because, and then you recognize “Oh I have slowed down.”

You have slowed down

The mind will do very little when you’re really in the body, there’s not much thinking anymore.

So another Facebooker wanted to know, this is closely related to what Laura said, “How does one clear one’s mind of bad memories?” Can you clear your mind of bad memories?

Well not as such, but you can recognize that bad memories are thoughts that are rising in your mind and when you recognize that these are thoughts arising in your mind.

You don’t need to identify with the thoughts any longer. So memories for example, of something bad that happened to you. Yes.

It’s not happening here and now

It’s already happened. Yes. It’s done. Yes, so memories are thoughts that arise. They are not realities.

Only when you believe that they are real, then they have the power over you. But when you realize it’s just another thought arising about the past then you can you find a space.. A spacious relationship with thought, so thought no longer has you in its grip.

I call it sometimes.. I hope if people really get that. Yes. That would be a gift for somebody whose tortured by the past. Yes, another aspect of that of course is guilt, which has to do with something one did to someone or something that they failed to do, but should have done. And so guilt arises.

But of course, who you were then..

No human being can act beyond their level of consciousness.

At that time, you acted like that..

The awareness was not there, to act differently. Now the awareness is there, and the awareness is who you truly are.

Well I think a lot of the reasons.. Anytime I’ve ever felt guilty it’s because I kind of knew better, I knew better and didn’t do it.

You know there’s nothing worse I think than being upset with yourself and you’re upset with yourself, not when you make a mistake for me. I’m upset with myself when I make a mistake that I could have prevented.

But you didn’t.. [Laughter] But you didn’t so live with it.

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The holiday season is a magical time. It’s a time to reflect on the year that was while spending time with loved ones and generally be merry.

It can also be a time of stress. Perhaps you and your family don’t get along so well. Perhaps you have a lot of work to get done and your boss is riding you to get it done before you get to take a break.

The reality is that for lots of people, the holiday season can be kind of stressful!

If that happens to be you, here are a few simple strategies you can use to help you navigate the silly season with grace.

3 Simple Strategies to Help You Stay Calm Over The Holiday Season

1. Deep Breathing. | Stay Calm

In the busyness of the silly season with all the rushing around we do, sometimes we forget to breathe properly. When we breathe deeply our nervous system settles and we turn off the bodies stress response. Breathing deeply supports our body so that we can then achieve a relaxed, clear state of mind.

Many studies have proven that by breathing deeply, you can activate your parasympathetic nervous system and experience feelings of calm.

Try this simple exercise to deepen your breath.

• Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose. Drop your shoulders down from around your ears. As you breathe in place your hand on your belly and feel your tummy rise.
• Exhale slowly through your mouth. As you blow air out, purse your lips slightly, but keep your jaw relaxed.
• Repeat this breathing exercise for several minutes until you feel your body settle

2. Meditation. | Stay Calm

Sure, when you are busy the last thing you want to do is sit down and breathe. Great news! You don’t have to. Meditation can come in many forms, from a simple walk in nature to a full-on dance in your lounge room! The point is to bring yourself into the present moment, to breathe and allow yourself the time to regather yourself so that you can continue your Christmas shopping or deal with your crazy relatives.

Of course, if you prefer, you can practice traditional meditation too. 5- 10 minutes a day will do wonders, particularly at this time of year.

3. Gratitude. | Stay Calm

With all the busyness around and the never-ending to do (or to buy) list of this time of year sometimes we can forget to take stock of what we have. Set up a daily gratitude practice over these holidays and remind yourself every day of all the things you already have. It will remind you not to sweat the small stuff, and help you enjoy what is meant to be a joyous and blissful time of year.

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Anxiety can be debilitating. Whether your experience with it is minor or in the extreme. Everyone experiences anxiety in some form or another.

Anxiety at its worst is a crushing encumbrance to shoulder on the road to happiness. Even if from the outside it looks like you have nothing to ‘worry about’ your mind has another story to tell. If you’ve ever sat wide eyed at 3AM struggling to breathe and contemplating the capitulation of your existence, while the rest of the world is sleeping, you know anxiety well.

How to Overcome Anxiety – Worrier to Warrior

The good news is that anxiety is manageable, there are a number of approaches you can take. One that works for someone else may not work for you. You must be brave enough to explore your options, so you can improve your own quality of life. Whether it be seeing a psychologist or life coach, altering your mindset/thought process, meditation, behavioural therapy or even taking medication.

Colin Bien suffered from a panic disorder caused by malaria prophylaxes for over 2 years. This cause Colin to have frequent overwhelming panic attacks. So began his life mission of understanding the underlying anxiety that caused his attacks. He knew if he failed to understand the way his mind was operating his life would always be a struggle. Listen as Colin explains how he broke the loop of anxiety.

Worrier to Warrior – How to Overcome Anxiety

Anxiety is like being chased by a bear. If you RUN…it’ll keep chasing you. If you STOP and acknowledge it, it’ll eventually lose interest and go away.

The way to fix such anxiety, depression or other mental illnesses is to understand the relationship of the mind , body and soul. You are not what you think. Simple as that. All mental illnesses have their root in the mind. There is of course a complicated chemical balance in the brain that can have a huge influence on your state. But they are generally not the cause, just the side effects of self induced stress states that manifest a fight or flight response within the body. Of course everyone is different, it is up to you to get to know yourself and evolve your mind from self-defeating to self-development.

How to overcome anxiety. STOP what you are doing. You need to figure out who you are. What is your purpose? Why haven’t you given up? What are you fighting for? Find out why your fire stills burns, even if your life is just a pile of smouldering coal. Once you find the reason, FEED YOUR FIRE. Remind yourself every day why you are here. If you want to be great you need to work on yourself EVERY. DAY. feed your mind with positivity & knowledge. Your life is on the line. Become a warrior. You can defeat this! Be fearless!

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You’re not alone, we all slip from time to time. It’s important to arrest this momentum straight away so you can get back to living your life fully.

Life gets busy, hectic and chaotic. With so much noise in the world is hard to pull yourself out of a funk at times.

Usually, if you are in a funk it’s because you are doing the same things and having the same thoughts over and over again.

This is why so many people lead the same day, week, and month unconsciously. If things are great then awesome. But if not, it can make for a life of unnecessary struggling, frustration, and hardship.

Here are three easy tricks to free yourself and become unstoppable

1. Gain Clarity With a Morning Routine | How to get out of a funk

Your morning sets your day up for success or failure. Is your current routine helping or hurting you? If you hit the snooze, rush out of work, and try to catch up the rest of the day it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

Instead, become intentional about how you spend your time in the mornings and start creating an empowering morning routine. The more intentional you are with more your time the more benefit you will see the rest of the day.

If you haven’t started a morning routine try getting up 15-20 minutes earlier than normal Do any or all of these habits each morning to start the day off focused and on your terms.

• Meditation

There are so many benefits of meditation! Spend 10-20 minutes centering yourself to begin each day.

• Write in a Journal

If you want to learn how to get out of a funk start writing a journal immediately! Get your thoughts on to paper so you can focus on how to make your situation better. Use a journal to brain dump, plan your day, and set goals for an abundant future. 

• Exercise

Like meditation, there are tons of benefits to exercise. This could be a long walk with your dog, working out or going to a yoga or pilates class. 

2. Surround Yourself With Positive People | How to get out of a funk

As Jim Rohn said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

Don’t underestimate the effects of your pessimistic, unambitious, or disorganized friends. If someone isn’t making you strong, they’re making you weak in life.

Often times the people closest to you might be one of the reasons you are in a funk but it’s so habitual to see them you might not even realize it. Instead, spend time seeking out people who bring out the best version of you.

Go to new places, find new events, and make an effort to surround yourself with winners.

3. Replace Negative Self-talk | How to get out of a funk

The final way to help you get out of your funk is to tackle your inner self-talk. It’s impossible to live a beautiful, happy, abundant life with negative self-talk.

With meditation and mindfulness apps you can become more aware of your thoughts. You will be able to identify if you are telling yourself uplifting things or ones that hurt your confidence and self-esteem.

The sooner you can become aware of your inner critic and flip it, the sooner you can get out of your funk. Learn to become your own best friend!

Remember that a funk is temporary. You have the power to get out of a funk if you are willing to make some changes.

While it’s not always easy to change, its necessary to help you get the most out of life. Use these three tricks and don’t be afraid to mix up other areas of your life that have become stagnant.

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Stop Overthinking and Become Present: You Are Not Your Thoughts

We give a lot of credence to thought. And that’s the reason many of us fall prey to overthinking.

But why do we engage in overthinking in the first place?

The answer is identification. We identify with the limiting thoughts in our head and they make us run in circles. Because of fear or lack, we keep overthinking and worrying about the things that will never happen and don’t define us.

When The Mind Says You’re Not Enough

According to Greer Parry, a substance misuse practitioner, “I do not need to compensate for the things I feel or believe because they are simply thoughts and sensations that cannot harm me.”

We need to learn that it’s not necessary to compensate for the negative thoughts we have with binge eating, drinking, or other coping behaviors. Why? Because negative thoughts and sensations are just thoughts and sensations, they will pass if we remain mindful of the present.

Realize that you are the awareness that observes your thoughts. You are not your thoughts.

“…the past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions.” –  Eckhart Tolle

Neither the past, nor the future, can rob you of life and fulfillment. It’s where you invest your attention that decides whether or not you will be fulfilled. Focus on the present and you’ll find that it’s all you ever wanted, to be free of the illusions of your mind.

“The stream of thinking has enormous momentum that can easily drag you along with it. Every thought pretends that it matters so much.” – Eckhart Tolle

Respond, Don’t React

When we are stuck in our thoughts we tend to react to situations rather than respond to them mindfully. We get swayed by the flow of our thoughts.

If we are self-aware and mindful of behavior, then we can exercise choice over what we do right now. We can act not in response to the pressure of our thoughts and feelings, but because we are aware of what we value.

The autopilot mode takes us into this never ending narrative, “the story of me”. If we actually end this narrative

Be Present, You Are Not Your Thoughts

“Whenever you are immersed in compulsive thinking, you are avoiding what is. You don’t want to be where you are. Here, Now.” – Eckhart Tolle

The right way to dissolve your thoughts is with enough presence. Become aware of the now. When you are aware, your mind cannot make you run in circles, thinking about things that will never happen.

Realize that the mind wants to control and comprehend, therefore when thought strikes, it takes them as the truth. The thoughts that run through your mind are just opinions of the mind. In fact, what you think about others, anything – is just a perspective, not the truth from the gospel.

Reality, on the other hand, is unified, it’s a place where we are all connected. Thinking makes us believe that we are alone and in danger. Thinking, in its desire to understand, makes concepts and puts everything in a box. Actual reality is far extraordinary to be put into a box, in a mental prison of thoughts and concepts.

The way out is to stop identifying with thought. Snap out of the thought train and just be. Become mindful of your feelings and emotions, your physical sensations, the things around you. Feel the energy of your inner body, in your hands, feet, chest, and abdomen.

You’ll notice that thoughts will stop and awareness will come.

This is you, this is life, happening in every moment.

Don’t miss it.

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