Puppies or Painkillers?
A university called Chapman U organizes and program called “Furry Friends for Finals” in which students can pet one of ten puppies stationed outside the library the week before exams as a means to de-stress.
Gone Fishing: The Benefits of Fish Oils
My Italian grandmother (“La Nonna”) remembers a time when, during World War II in rural Italy, she and her sister were given a daily supplement of cod liver oil, as part of a public health campaign under Mussolini’s government.
Yoga and Mental Health
In North America, 10% of adults are currently taking an anti-depressant. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Canada estimates that 1 in 5 adults fall under the diagnostic criteria for mild to moderate depression.
While the number of people with severe depression has remained the same, the amount of people diagnosed with moderate depression has increased significantly.
The diagnostic criteria for depression is broad, containing symptoms such as decreased or increased appetite, trouble sleeping, trouble concentrating, fatigue and low self-esteem. Considering our often stressful, inactive lifestyle, it’s no wonder that 20% of North American adults have the potential to be diagnosed with depression!
The most common conventional medical treatment for depression are anti-depressants, such as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) like Prozac, Cipramil or Seropram. According to one of my professors, these are “life-changing drugs” that bring with them a plethora of negative side effects. These side effects include sleeping problems, nausea, reduced sexual desire, weight gain and increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Fortunately for patients experiencing depression, there are more options than simply going on anti-depressant medication. Naturopathic doctors offer a large selection of therapies in the form of supplements, botanical tinctures, acupuncture and diet and lifestyle modifications to help improve mood, most of them offering little to no negative side effects.
Although “yoga therapy” is not necessarily a naturopathic healing modality, it does fit into the category of lifestyle counseling, which involves psycho-education and lifestyle modifications like diet and exercise.
In a Meta Analysis – a large study that compiles a number of well-conducted studies and is termed The “Gold Standard” of Evidenced Based Medicine – performed by the California State University Department of Psychiatry, researchers examined 10 studies looking at the effects of regular yoga practice on major psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The study found that yoga is not only a wonderful form of exercise, but an effective therapy to be used alongside other treatments for patients with major psychiatric illness.
Here is the abstract from the study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22132353
Yoga professionals recommend practicing for one hour, three times a week, in order to reap all the physical, mental and emotional benefits. While attending regular yoga classes at a studio can be costly, you can now follow yoga classes from the comfort of your own home (in your pajamas!) with this excellent website:
I’ve seen my yogi skills and fitness levels greatly improve after becoming a member of My Yoga Online in 2009. The site is based out of a Vancouver yoga studio and features local teachers, filmed live classes and commerical yoga videos. By signing up, you are granted unlimited access to these videos. One of my favourite teachers on the site is Clara Roberts-Oss. I recommend signing up for a month (it costs $12!) and trying a few of her flows. If you’re new to yoga, you can start by clicking on the beginner button.
If you prefer in-studio classes, a colleague of mine started this website, which features weekly deals on yoga classes in Toronto, Montreal and New York:
I highly recommend trying each of these websites and experiencing the mental benefits of yoga for yourself!
Living “I Am” Moments
Last semester I took the Ayurvedic Lifestyle course at CCNM, taught by Matthew Remski. In this course, one of the ideas that most resonated with me was the concept of “I Am” Moments. These are moments where the past and future fall away and we become ingrained in the present moment. Some of you might refer to them as moments of pure passion or exhilaration.
The best examples of I Am Moments are seen in animals. When I take my dog to High Park, the moment I reach down to unclasp his leash and set him free, he enters his state of “I Am.” Ears flying back, fur plastered against his face as he tears through the inner city forest, he loses all sense of past, present and future and becomes the being he was born to be. You can almost hear him exclaiming “I am I am I Am a DOG!”
He’s not self-conscious about the fact that his legs are flopping awkwardly behind him, that his body is too long or too low to the ground or that his fur is too shaggy. As he pauses for a second to turn to me with his mouth open in what can only be described as a “doggy smile”, I can almost hear him say, “thank you thank you thank you for not stuffing me into a purse and taking me to the mall. Thank you for letting me race, chase and roll in poop! Thank you for letting me be the way that nature designed me, thank you for letting me be a DOG!”
So, there you have it, an example of an “I Am” Moment.
I can perfectly identify my own I Am Moments, which I’ve experienced since childhood. I’m in a large, open space, full of art materials, where I am free to make a mess, get dirty and move freely, I have paints, canvasses, paper, pictures and glue. Whether I decide to paint a landscape or construct a giant papier maché bird mask, I am free to sculpt, to paint and to CREATE.
When I enter this state, time no longer seems to matter and I just melt into the moment. I feel that I am doing something perfectly natural for me and, in honouring nature, it is as if I enter into a state of Wholeness; I become a part of everything and everything becomes a part of me.
Your own I Am Moments may be stimulated by different things. You may have them when you run, dance, horseback ride or mountain climb. Perhaps you enter your I Am Moment when you take a patient history, solve a mathematical equation, buy and sell stocks, prepare a nutritious meal, teach a class, drive your car or relax with an inspiring book and a cup of steaming tea.
Just as the dog in High Park becomes wholly himself in the wild ecstasy of movement, and just as I find my own essence in the freedom of creating with paints and glue, horses too live out their I Am Moments in motion, instinct, and connection. Watching a horse gallop across an open field—muscles rippling beneath a sun-dappled coat, mane flying, nostrils flaring—you witness a living embodiment of presence. There is no striving or self-consciousness, just the pure expression of being.
During these moments you lose a sense of the details of your life and of your problems, which no longer seem important or relevant. You cease to care about how your butt looks in your jeans, if you’re wearing the right shoes, if your hair is too frizzy or the fight you had with your mother. Your mind is absolutely clear of thoughts and you feel a sense of connection with the (excuse me) Divine. You feel as if you’re flowing with everything, as if you are part of the whole.
The point of this post is to get you to think about and honour these I Am Moments in your life. If you can’t put your finger on a specific time that you had a sense of I Am, I encourage you to think back to your childhood. Children continually operate out of “I Am” because they are naturally unself-conscious. That is, until they become corrupted with our adult insecurities and “lessons” about the importance of what others think. As a kid you operated from an uninhibited place, where you were stimulated by an awe of life and lived in the novelty of the present.
When you discover what triggers these moments in your life, make an effort to create time for them and use them as inspiration for the rest of your life. I Am Moments are the key to getting us back to our natural state; a state that is free of disease, in which the energy of our own vitality can flow freely.