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Dietician Sheela Seharawat

Benefits of yoga and meditation on our mind

Yoga and meditation are the two forms of ancient Indian tradition, which emphasizes on a holistic approach to achieve proper coordination between the mind, body and soul to achieve the good values of life and lead a life full of exuberance and vitality.
Yoga and meditation has been associated with each other from the beginning. Both work together to achieve the goal of ultimate unity of the mind-body and soul, which is also referred to as a condition of everlasting happiness. Meditation and Yoga, teaches us ways to detach from the surrounding, both physically and otherwise, which ultimately results in a balance of emotional makeup. When this happens an ultimate calmness sets in, it develops a positive perspective and approach that grants amazing benefits to our body in both physical and mental ways.

Yoga and Meditation- its connection with our Mental Health
Yoga and meditation are phycology – the practicing of which helps us understand and work with the nature of the mind, the nature of being a human, how emotions and thoughts shelter in our mind, and how they affect the our behaviour.
When we all talk about yoga, we talk about its many physiological benefits like increase in flexibility and decrease in stiffness of muscles and much more. Very rarely do we ever mention about its many mental, psychological, and cognitive benefits. There has been many studies and researches done to assess the effectiveness of yoga and meditation for brain and mental health—-and the results has come back promising.
Here are some of the most prominent benefits of practicing yoga on our mind:
Boosts memory and improves concentration
We all have gone through phases of lack of concentration and focus on our day to day tasks. Dharana, a yogic form is practiced for concentration, and is a perfect way to clear mind and control and calm our senses. Meditation teaches us to remove all sorts of static noises from our mind and focus. This helps you to remember things, concentrate better, and perform to the optimum.

It helps with anxiety and depression
Involving activities alike relaxation, meditation, exercising and socializing, yoga has always been helpful in reducing depression and anxiety. It has all been possible with yoga by regulating human stress response mechanism. With capabilities of reducing blood pressures and heart rate and thereby improving respiration, yoga provides the means to deal with anxiety and depression without the aid of nay medication.

Helps improves your psychological/mental well-being
We often have feelings of carrying excess burdens on our shoulder, feeling highly stressed and tensed. With yogic practice you can definitely throw away those unhealthy feelings. Yoga forms involves concentration on breath and body, that aids soothing of mind and relieve worries. With discharge of stress, tension and psychological burdens one is free of any negative elements and finds optimum psychological health.

It helps reduce the effects of traumatic experiences
Many among us go through some certain tragic episodes in life like, physical abuses, severe medical conditions or military combats that goes on to develop conditions of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the ones who suffer from this mental illness frequently experiences nightmares and flashbacks, to name a few of the symptoms. A form of yoga, known as the Hatha Yoga, shown to be effective in reducing PTSD symptoms. Yoga and meditation has shown considerable improvements in people against the ravages of traumatic experiences.

A Yogic Diet Based on Ayurvedic Principles for Mental Health

A yogic diet practice in applying Ayurvedic principles to keep our body nourished and our mind clear. Most vegetables, ghee (clarified butter), fruits, legumes, and whole grains are considered sattvic, meaning good for mind and body and in contrast foods like onions, meat, and garlic and rajasic foods like coffee, hot peppers, and salt are considered to increase dullness or hyperactivity, and hence to be avoided.
Here are a few principle on which yogic diets are based on:
A yogic diet should be Sattvic (an all vegan diet believed to calm and purify the mind, enabling it to function at its maximum potential)