This is specially for you my friend "Haley". hope this article can help you and have a peaceful life.

Yoga is not a cure but can prevent you and give you a peace, which is rare to get and if have no peace then we have so many problems , but if we have peace and if we are in peace then everything is fine.  Be careful in the beginning of your practice of Yoga don’t stop medicines but gradually  reduce the quantity.

When physicians use the word "depression," they don't mean feeling disappointed or blue, or grieving a loss—normal moods that everyone experiences from time to time. Clinical depression is a persistently sad, hopeless, and sometimes agitated state that profoundly lowers the quality of life and that, if untreated, can result in suicide. Doctors aim, with drugs and sometimes psychotherapy, to raise their patients' moods, but yoga has much loftier goals. As a yoga therapist, you want not only to help lift your students out of depression but to quiet their restless minds, put them in touch with their deeper purpose in life, and let them feel the ultimate peace and joy.

Yoga is a relaxing form of practice that can help alleviate depression. Meditation and yoga poses can help you attack the root cause of depression - the feeling that you can't handle the demands of your life. It tones the nervous system, stimulates circulation, promotes concentration, and energizes your mind and body.

Yoga Practice help improve blood circulation making it easier to break through the lethargy that often accompanies depression. But before treatment we have to go for a  deep  and good discussion with patient and try to know the root of the depression, and also try to find what kind of depression he/she have ? Rajsic or Tamsic ?

From a yogic perspective, people with tamasic depression lack life force or prana. You'll want to concentrate on practices that bring breath to the body, particularly deep inhalations. If they are able to tolerate them, vigorous practices such as repeated Sun Salutations(Surya Namaskar), arm balances, and other challenging poses can be therapeutic. The body and mind are so occupied with the practice that it's hard to brood. When teaching vigorous practices to students with depression, don't worry much about proper alignment. As long as they aren't doing anything that might cause an injury, it's better to have them just do the practice and focus on the movement of the breath. Backbends, in particular, can be stimulating and help fight tamas. These range from restorative poses such as supported Savasana (done with a bolster placed lengthwise under the torso) and supported Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana) to more active poses such as Camel Pose(Ustrasana) and  Wheel Pose (Urdhva Dhanurasana). Once you've gotten students to overcome some of their tamas, they may be able to relax more deeply. If you try relaxation first, however, you may find them sinking into dark thoughts, defeating the purpose.

Students with rajasic depression also tend to respond to Sun Salutations and backbends, though some of them will find strong backbends too agitating. Vigorous practices have the advantage of helping students burn off some nervous energy, and also of being demanding enough to keep their attention from drifting.

Indeed, some students have such a tendency to brood or get swept away with anxious or negative thoughts that asking them to close their eyes in Savasana (Dead pose) and restorative poses (and even during pranayama(Yoga breathing) and Dhyana (meditation) may be counterproductive. Any of these practices can be done with open eyes or, if necessary, skipped entirely.

And normally we can recommend some of following asana for depression :

·         The Sun Salutation (12 repetitions a day)

·         Bow pose

·         Corpse Pose

·         Maha Mudra

·         Plow pose

·         Shoulder Stand

·         Vajrasana (Sitting on the Heels)   Ujjayi Pranayama is very useful in depression. And also can practice some mantra chantings,Meditation and some other pranayamas like anuloma viloma, nadi shodhan, and kapalbhati.

 

Be careful practice Yoga for depression only under a qualified teacher’s guidence and also don’t forget to consult with your doctor.

Have a safe and peaceful practice.                     ( Sources : Dr. Timothy McCall and Myself.)

 

Namaste Ji,

Yogi Manu.