How Yoga Improves your Mental Health
Yoga can be an effective part of managing mental and physical health – which are one and the same, according to the old expression “Mens sana in corpore sano”. Below are excerpts from a studies that are testing the benefits of yoga.
Yoga for anxiety and depression
(from Harvard Health Publications, health.harvard.edu)
Taming the stress response
By reducing perceived stress and anxiety, yoga appears to modulate stress response systems.
Yoga at Carlow Mental Health Week
15 October, 2015
Published in Yoga Therapy Ireland's Winter 2015 edition (pp 14-15). Download the full ezine here.
It's "Mensana" week in Carlow - a play on the "mens sana in corpore sano" phrase from the poet Juvenal's Satire X, written a couple of thousand years ago. It has come to mean that a healthy body needs a healthy mind, or a healthy mind creates a healthy body - either way, that the two are inseparable. Carlow Mental Health Association organises this annual event to raise awareness of mental health issues and to present various tools to deal with the challenges that arise.
Yoga is a useful tool for self-managing physical and mental health - an ideal "mens sana in corpore sano" activity. I was invited to lead three sessions connecting breath to movement.
The Irish Yoga Market
Market research and stragetic marketing applications for the Irish yoga market
by Pam Butler, published in Yoga Therapy Ireland, Spring 2015. Download the pdf version here.
Any yoga teacher or studio owner will recognise the questions fundamental to an effective marketing plan:
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Who is the target client?
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How can the client be helped?
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What attracts the target customer?
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What new market segments can be developed?
These are not the first questions that pop into mind when you think of “yoga”, but they are important to sustainable business success. Original research I undertook in 2014 provide some quantified answers.
The Irish Market
There is no raw data on the yoga market in Ireland, but a reasonable benchmark is that Ireland has 70,000 practitioners (1.5% of the population) including 1,500 teachers.
Beyond the Pale: Yoga in Carlow
by Pamela Butler, Yoga Therapy Ireland, January 2005
Astanga, Hatha, Iyengar, Shadow. It's all yoga and it's all available around Carlow. Whether you are looking for the ultimate in relaxation (think candles and incense), seeking a physical challenge that a vinyasa-style yoga class offers, looking to incorporate meditation into your life, or seeking alternative health products, Carlow's offerings are blossoming.
Carlovians' interest in yoga is not new, but the opening of a dedicated venue late last year is an indication of yoga's established and growing popularity in the area. Paula McGrath's Carlow Yoga and Health Centre offers not only a range of yoga styles but also holistic treatments such as homeopathy, reflexology and holistic massage.
