Before I came to Himalayan Iyengar Yoga Centre, I didn’t think yoga could help with my anxiety. The classes I tried in the U.S. generated some endorphins that gave me short term relief, but my baseline anxiety remained the same. Many times, the asana sequences pushed and contorted my body in ways that made me feel less grounded, frustrated with myself and more anxious than before.
The Sharat Arora Method Grounds the Body and the Mind
At HIYC, the entire method is built upon a process of grounding and connecting to Earth. Every asana has a clear foundation where action and awareness is centered. This automatically grounds the mind as well, bringing it to presence away from the constant anxious spinning through thoughts of the past of future.
We perform many poses that directly relieve the physical manifestations of anxiety. As anxiety increases, the breath becomes constricted and cannot fully expand in the upper chest. This sends fear signals throughout the body causing a vicious cycle that can crescendo into full blown panic attacks, as I’ve experienced far too many times.
Chest-Opening and Relaxation Poses Treat the Physical Symptoms of Anxiety
All of the chest-opening poses — like those in the sarvangasana series we practice daily — expand the upper chest to allow the breath to move there freely. We also teach simple techniques that can be implemented any time anxiety strikes to expand and ease the flow of breath. This helps soothe the body’s fear response and allow the nervous system to naturally down-regulate into relaxation.
The Sharat Arora Methord places heavy emphasis on relaxation poses in which the body is fully supported. We can then effortlessly surrender to the support of Earth, which holds and grounds the entire body-mind. At HIYC, we learn again how to relax in ways that actually restore our health and energy. Common “relaxation” practices today, like watching TV, actually over-stimulate the mind and create tension in the body.
The Goal of Yoga is Steadiness, Ease and Disconnection from Mind
Many yoga and fitness classes are designed push the body to its limits, make the breath quick and shallow and move so quickly as to lose connection to Earth. They may have other benefits, but they risk increasing rather than pacifying the baseline anxiety we feel as humans in this modern world. Here we follow the yoga of Patanjali that aims to cease the fluctuations of the mind (Yoga Sutra 1.2: yogas citta vritti nirodaha) through steadiness and ease in every asana (Yoga Sutra 2.46: stirham sukham asana).
There is no permanent cure for anxiety, as uncertainty is a constant in life. Our method accepts this fact and teaches us to find ease and stability within the inevitable turmoil. We practice a daily process of grounding and connecting to Earth in asana. Every day we practice a variation of shoulder stand that does this while freeing the breath to move through the entire trunk, including the areas of the upper chest typically restricted by anxiety. Our forms of shoulder stand also work powerfully on the entire hormonal system, correcting any imbalances in stress hormones that result from chronic anxiety.
Anxiety will always be part of the human experience, but we have tools to manage it, pacify it and even find peace within it. This is the aim of the method taught at HIYC. We do not seek to push our bodies past their limits to reach some socially-desirable image (which most likely increases anxiety). We aim, quite simply, to find peace. We practice the Sharat Arora method to live life with greater ease, freedom and love.
