Yoga and Anxiety

Yoga and Anxiety


With the body still and relaxed, direct awareness to the heart

Then let the mantram become your boat to cross the river of fear.

- Swetasvatara Upanishad



Anxiety is a hidden plague of our time. It is estimated that 40 million adults in the US suffer from an anxiety disorder. There are a number of diagnostic categories under the general heading of anxiety including panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and phobias (social phobia, agoraphobia and specific phobia.) Anxiety is a component of stress in general, is intertwined with depression and implicated in drug and alcohol addiction. Medical treatment for anxiety generally involves medications which may themselves be addictive and, or have side-effects. In any case, these medications are aimed at the uncomfortable symptoms rather than at the source of anxiety. Many people who experience periods of intense anxiety do not seek conventional help but use other coping skills to manage them.

In 1948 the poet W. H. Auden published “The Age of Anxiety,” which attempted to portray human beings’ struggle to find meaning and identity in a world that is changing at an accelerated pace. It went on to become the basis for a Leonard Bernstein Opera. The reality of our time is that change continues to accelerate and that feelings of “comfort and joy” have become more difficult to capture. As physicist Peter Russell writes in Waking Up In Time:

“The faster the world around us changes, the more we are forced to let go of any cozy notions we might have about the future. No one today can predict with any degree of certainty how things will be in a year, or even in six months. When global stock markets can crash without warning, political walls tumble overnight, countries invade each other in a day, and ecological disasters shatter our illusions of control, we are increasingly forced to live in the present.”

From the perspective of yoga psychology anxiety is a basic condition of our existence. We suffer even when we are not aware from a deep feeling of anxiety which is the root of what spiritual traditions refer to as the ego. When we are identified with our body-mind egos we feel ourselves to be separate from the rest of being. We feel lonely and scared. We imagine the world to be a foreign place where we have no connections. As old traditions of communal and family ties break down we feel increasingly vulnerable. Anxiety is a “future-oriented” condition. While we are forced to let go of old concepts of certainty and security, we project this onto the future. Reality, however, only exists as the present moment.

We cannot hold onto a past which exists only as memory and we can’t grasp a future which is only speculation. Being present is all there is. Meditation is the means for calming the mind, disconnecting from our emotional involvement in both past and future. Everything that we think and believe, hope or long for exists within our minds. When the mind becomes still and quiet we experience who we truly are and what truly is. Of course, we need to learn from past experience and try to plan for the future. It’s just that we can’t try to live in either past or future. Sometimes we need to let go of all past experiences of safety and security and to allow for a future which is uncertain. These are actually the moments when we are awake and alive.

Being truly awake and alive can be a terrifying experience. Ongoing consistent meditation practice can teach us to face this experience. We hold onto our thoughts and beliefs on a subconscious level. The practice of deeper awareness allows us to see through them and to connect with the deeper reality of who we are. Ordinarily we identify ourselves with our thoughts and beliefs; with our personal narrative. Meditation practice helps us to understand this as a construct. This gives us freedom to redefine ourselves and our reality. We don’t have to wait for crises in our lives to be open to change – and to be connected with the changeless, timeless essence of our beings.

Recently a student expressed the pain of her anxiety. “I was on vacation,” she said, “but I couldn’t stop worrying.” Her complaint exposes the unreality of our anxious situations. Our minds continue to manufacture threats even when we are safely trying to relax. Although it sounds simple, even simplistic, learning to stop our thought processes with a deep breath can be extremely helpful. Even though simple it is based on practice. “Yoga,” writes Swami Sivananda Radha , “is a process of dehypnotizing and waking up.” It takes consistent effort to undo the conditioning of our minds allowing us to be truly present. The effort is more than worth it though.