Meditation Benefits For Depression And ADHD

By Patricia | October 23, 2008
Meditation For Depression & ADHD

ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a condition of the brain that results in excessive activity and difficulty in focusing attention. It can lead to academic problems and make a person reckless and impulsive, and often unable to control behavior in a social setting.

Depression is a mood disorder that can result in extreme emotional changes and mood swings. It is different from feeling sad sometimes. It can be a serious illness that affects your thoughts, feelings, behavior and health. When the feeling of sadness stops a person from leading a normal everyday life, it is a serious problem.

Yoga is one of the effective ways to promote total mind and body awareness and reduce feelings of stress, depression and anxiety and also create physical balance. It is a total wellness program that joins the mind and body together and creates harmony between both as well as the universe around. This is the sense of balance and centeredness that people with ADHD and depression would need.

Yoga And Meditation Treatment

All forms of exercise would help reduce systems of depression but yoga when combined with meditation and deep breathing creates a positive attitude. Depression can cause fatigue and a lack of energy. Yoga and meditation helps create a feeling of strength and motivation to move forward. Yoga exercises also stimulate the organs to release hormones that create a feeling of happiness. Some poses especially help in the reduction of depression. They can be performed by people of any age, weight or level of fitness activity. One such pose is the Lion Pose. It stretches your body and lightens your emotional load and is great for gaining courage. The Fish Pose releases tension and eases the feeling of pressure in the chest. The Child Pose is comforting and peaceful and promotes a feeling of safety and security. The Warrior Pose makes you feel grounded and the Corpse Pose relaxes your whole body and mind and promotes peace.

ADHD often makes people feel they have lost control over their bodies and they have issues with impulsivity and hyperactivities. Yoga helps reconnect the mind and body to give a better control over physical faculties. It encourages focus and concentration while doing the exercise and this can carry over into a other normal day to day activities and make such behavior into a habit.

Yoga and meditation helps with ADHD and depression because it focuses on awareness, breathing concentration. When practicing one has to be aware of the how the limbs and muscles are reacting as well as the minds reaction whether it feels tense or relaxed. Breathing has to be rhythmic and consistent in yoga and each inhalation should expand the body and chest. This increases the amount of oxygen you breathe in and helps you relax. Concentration is necessary for yoga practice to maintain your balance physically and mentally. That is a wonderful skill to have to combat ailments like ADHD and depression.

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