May Is Mental Health Awareness Month: How Yoga Supports Emotional Wellness

Breath and the Nervous System: Why Yoga Works

One of the most profound ways yoga supports mental health is through nervous system regulation. This might sound scientific, but it’s actually quite intuitive.

Your nervous system has two main settings: sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest). In our fast-paced world, many of us get stuck in the sympathetic mode, constantly alert, on edge, and exhausted.

Yoga gently invites us into the parasympathetic mode, where healing happens.

Through practices like:

• Deep, slow breathing (pranayama)

• Grounding postures like forward folds and supported child’s pose

• Meditation and mindfulness

• Yoga Nidra (guided rest)

… we start to signal to our bodies and brains that we’re safe. And from that place of safety, emotional healing and resilience begin to grow.