Can You Guide Me Online

by Nina

Sad Female Head by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

One of the most difficult things about writing about yoga for emotional wellbeing on this blog is that I sometimes receive desperate pleas for help in my email. Here’s an example of one I received very recently:  

Dear Nina,

Hello!
Could you help me as i am undergoing a depressive period, health problems, loneliness etc.
Can you guide me online 

What makes me so sad is that while I would love to help guide this person and others who write me online (and I would be happy to write posts just for them), the truth is that I cannot. 

Someone who is suffering from serious depression and the loneliness associated with it cannot find a “cure” through yoga alone, especially just from reading a blog. Although yoga can be very beneficial when used in conjunction with other treatments, such as medication and therapy (and I can write about how to combine those sometime), we here at YFHA don’t feel that yoga alone can fix serious depression (though it may help with some cases of mild depression). Please read Yoga is a great thing but..... And we also feel there is should be no shame in that (see No Shame Please: (Western Medicine and Yoga are Complementary)). 

So my first response to this inquiry is to tell the person to discuss the problem with their medical doctor. Hopefully they are already being treated for the “health problems” (which again, I cannot address, because I don’t even know what they are) and the emotional problems could be related to the health problems or result from treatments, etc, or maybe the emotional problems are a result of the stress of having the health problems. Hopefully the doctor will guide you to appropriate resources. If he or she does not, try finding a different doctor!

After that, when you established a new routine of treatment for depression along with self care (eating well, sleeping enough, exercising, etc.), you can look into adding yoga into the mix to help balance your emotions. That’s all I’m going to say for now—though soon I will share my thoughts about yoga and depression—and how it can be a supplement for other treatments. But consulting in person a yoga teacher who is experienced at working with students who have depression would be a good start.

If you are not already getting treatment from a doctor or other health provider, please, dear friend, reach out to someone in your community for help!

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