The mind-altering power of yoga could improve your mental health

Yoga has been found to increase grey matter and alter key networks in the brain. Now there are hopes it could be used to help improve people’s mental health.

My right arm is shaking. Sweat drips from my forehead as I twist my body from a side plank into a yoga pose known as “Wild Thing” – or “Camatkarasana”. It is quite the contortion – I arch my back, stretching my left arm over my head. My right foot is planted on the ground, and I look up to the sky. 

One translation of the Sanskrit word camatkarasana is “the ecstatic unfolding of the enraptured heart” and is said to elicit confidence. And – despite the strain – I feel invincible. 

When I started practicing yoga, I wanted to sweat and to build strength. I saw it purely as a form of exercise – but I found it was so much more.

The practice of yoga dates back over 2,000 years to ancient India. And though today, there are many different types of yoga – from meditative yin yoga to flowing vinyasa – through their use of movement, meditation and breathing exercises, all forms focus on a mind-body connection. And there is growing evidence that yoga may not just have physical benefits but may also be good for your mind too. Some researchers even hope it could be a promising way of helping people with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cope with their symptoms.