How Mindful Vinyasa Flow Sequences Can Help Manage Symptoms of Chronic Anxiety

Living with chronic anxiety feels like having a low hum of static that you can’t shut off. Many people deal with this every day and it shows in constant anxious thoughts, a tightening of the chest, sleepless nights, and a body that won’t relax. You’ve probably tried meditation, breathing exercises, and therapy. You’ve maybe even tried using meditation apps. This article aims to answer why mindful vinyasa yoga is a helpful and under utilized method for controlling and managing symptoms associated with having chronic anxiety.

Vinyasa flow yoga is about joining your breath to your movement, which creates a moving meditation sequence as opposed to a normal workout. People often use exercise to push their bodies to the edge and to be completely exhausted, but mindful vinyasa is the complete opposite of this. Instead, it brings the body to a state of calm. This is essential for anxiety sufferers.

This article will try to answer by what means and how did mindful vinyasa flow yoga help manage symptoms for chronic anxiety sufferers, why there’s a huge role in breathing and movement, and how you can create a beginner friendly sequence for your own practice of yoga to help with mental health issues without having prior experience and to those who wish to advance their practice. Additionally, anxiety and depression often occur simultaneously, so this article will include the relationship between the two to provide a more comprehensive guide.

Understanding and Coping with Chronic Anxiety and the Importance of Movement

Chronic anxiety is markedly different from short-term stress. Chronic anxiety does not resolve when the stressor stops. It can last for weeks, months, or years with no external stressor present. Racing heart, muscle tension, feeling restless, difficulty concentrating, and feeling dread can be symptoms of chronic anxiety. If left unaddressed anxiety symptoms will detrimentally impact day-to-day life, relationships, and sleep.

The main reason chronic anxiety is hard to overcome is that it is not just mental, it is somatic. The body can be stuck in sympathetic dominance which is when the body acts as though there is danger all the time. Traditional relaxation techniques or even psychotherapy can assist in coping with some symptoms of anxiety, however healing practices such as vinyasa flow can offer a pathway back to calm.

Research on the mind-body technique puts importance on intentional movement and breathing to physically shift a person to a relaxed state from the sympathetic or fight or flight state. For example, in Vinyasa flow, a person shifts the body into a state of ease through breathing while bringing the body into each pose while aligning breath with movement. For people with chronic anxiety, this shift can bring relief without invoking willpower, and it is achieved because a person is being guided.

Yoga is not a substitute for professional treatment, but the research on mindful Vinyasa Flow is impressive. Anxiety disorders are challenging to resolve. Most of the time, a mix of therapy, medicine, and a change in lifestyle is required. However, in this mix, mindful vinyasa flow definitely has its spot.

The Breath-Movement Connection: Why Vinyasa Works for Anxiety

Vinyasa means to “move in a special way.” In yoga, this means that he/she will link movement to breath through a particular sequence of postures. Every single movement will be done on an inhale or an exhale. And this isn’t a coincidence.

When someone gets anxious, it causes short and super fast breaths in the upper chest. This breathing pattern lets the brain know that there is a threat and it can heighten the feelings of panic and unease. Anchoring the breath through Vinyasa will extend the exhale, making the inhale shorter. The purpose of this is to engage the vagus nerve to stimulate the parasympathetic system. This relaxes the body and heart and signals the mind that it is safe to do so.

Vinyasa has systems that offer focus for the anxious mind. Like most things, mindfulness practice requires defiance of the wandering and anxious mind. In vinyasa, you are guided through a yoga flow or series of poses. Not only are you told what poses to do, you are encouraged to benefit from the practice of mindfulness along the way. The focus is to stay present with the sensation your body is feeling at the moment, and to notice the breath as you transition. This is the practice and technique of mindful meditation. It will help you to minimize anxiety caused from your “what if” thinking.

Another aspect of mindfulness that accompanies vinyasa is the posing. There is a lot of focus and clean release posing in vinyasa to open the chest and help release physical and emotional tension from areas such as the hips and the chest and even the shoulders. As reported with a lot of consistency, practitioners describe an emotional release from stuck and held emotional tension.

Building a Mindful Vinyasa Sequence for Anxiety Relief

A mindful vinyasa practice for creating your own personal sequence is possible with only a basic understanding of a few poses. What is important is your consistency and intent. Below is a structure that I find helpful and one that you can take and make your own.

VFPLP——-Rupa Vinyasa——-BSP

For fifteen to thirty minute practice, three to five days per week.

1.Grounding and Centering (3-5 minutes) Sit or lie down. Close your eyes if that’s comfortable to you, and notice your breath. Don’t try to control your breath. Just notice what your breath is like right now, and notice where you are holding tension. There’s no forcing calm. Think of what you are currently experiencing.

1. Gentle Warm-Up (5 minutes) Slowly do cat-cow stretches, some gentle neck rolls, and seated twists. Breath in, breath out. This is a gentle prepping stage of the practice. The nervous system can’t always keep up, so the body can be pushed too hard too fast, which can sometimes feel like a panic attack, an elevated heart rate, etc.
2. Flowing Sequence (10-15 minutes) Here is the main part of the practice. One simple variation for a sun salutation is to move into mountain pose, then into a forward fold, then into a low lunge, then into downward facing dog, and back again, moving with each inhale and each exhale. Slowly do the Sun Salutation a bunch of times. Don’t rush it. Think about your breath instead of your thoughts that will for sure happen many times.
3. Restorative Closing (5-7 minutes) Do poses like child’s pose, legs up the wall, etc. and end with savasana/ final resting pose. This is the last stage of the practice that is allowing the nervous system to completely relax. Safety has been established during this whole practice.

Many find that this technique when practiced regularly fosters a reduction in chronic anxiety symptoms like sleep deprivation due to racing thoughts or the symptom of chest tightness caused by the stressors of the week.

Addressing The Link Between Anxiety And Depression

It is true that anxiety rarely occurs in isolation. Depression symptoms often accompany chronic anxiety, and they quickly become debilitating to one’s day to day life. Depression can further impede one’s ability to begin to practice yoga, the very thing that is needed to counter the symptoms.

If this is how you feel, then know that it is completely understandable to have zero desire to move when depression is hard on you. On those days, the goal is to only sit for five minutes mindfully and move slowly while fracturing the breath. It is helpful to keep in mind that ease and stillness can produce some of the most nurturing and restorative sessions.

Since anxiety and depression often occur simultaneously, it is very important that you seek out mental health support and create a plan that combines therapy, medication, and adjunctive practices of yoga. Although vinyasa flow has been known to be very helpful as a part of the process, it is important to keep in mind that a yoga practice should be a part of a custom drawn holistic personal mental health care plan.

Conclusion

Chronic anxiety heightens the unpredictability of the world and convinces your body that it’s when your body keeps going. Mindful vinyasa flow is one gentle option to break the cycle. Grounding the nervous system and focusing the mind are made easier with this practice because you connect breath to movement. It’s a safe space in which to verbally process anxiety that’s been kept hidden and unresolved. For those with anxiety and depression, it may even help you feel more comfortable in your body.