From not being able to sleep till 3 am to better sleep and reduced anxiety with regular yoga
Insomnia can be exhausting. During a difficult time last year, I found comfort in yoga. I went through a period of torturous insomnia that left me wide awake every night until 3 am. Every night I begged my brain to switch off.
I had heard that yoga helps, so I started going to a local class. Immediately, I felt better. I loved how slow and methodical the class felt. I appreciated the fact that teachers discussed mindful and positive thinking. These were things I’d heard little about before.
Gradually, as I de-stressed and learned to relax, my sleep improved. I found myself recalling the yoga poses I had learned in my head before bed. It helped me drift off.
So, for World Yoga Day, I wanted to find out whether this ancient practice had helped others overcome their challenges.
Yoga brings you into a deep state of relaxation physically and that creates more space for you mentally and spiritually.
I started to understand that there was no satisfaction in trying to find happiness outside myself, for example through material possessions; all this stuff brought only temporary happiness, nothing permanent.
My life is so much better now. I also lost some weight recently. My mental health has vastly improved. I used to overthink everything and be anxious a lot of the time. The clarity from yoga and the routine I have developed has really helped. I am not one of those consistent, dedicated people, and I only do yoga for 30 minutes a day, but it helps ground me. It has taught me how to calm down and not panic at everything.
Written by: Shripad Arun Kulkarni
A little note: As community conversation facilitators, we believe in giving an individual the autonomy of expression. The views expressed in this piece are the author's own.
