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Meditation and Yoga are two (unless done
together, then they're one) of the most powerful cures
for depression known to us, and they can certainly have
more pervasive, long-lasting effects, on one's entire
life and happiness, than medication or even
psychotherapy. One of the world's most serious health
crises, depression causes millions of suicides and untold suffering around the world each year, not to mention
loss of work and economic productivity that depressed
people can experience. Depression can be addressed
by many means, but few are as simple, effective, and
cost-free as yoga or mindfulness meditation or
both. We discuss these means in "Depression
Self-Help." Why not meet our
spiritual
coaches now?
Critically, the simple yet powerful techniques of
meditation and yoga have a unique advantage over most
other forms of treatment: they cost nothing, rely less
on third parties like therapists or insurers, are free
from undesirable side-effects, reduce health care costs,
and are easy to learn and practice in daily life
regardless of socioeconomic status. They may also be
taught as completely free of any religious and cultural
baggage, thus making the techniques accessible to all
and offensive to none. They are a part of our holistic
and intuitive
life coaching and
Spiritual Coaching.
Our
coaching on types of meditation and yoga is based on
individual practices spanning nearly 20 years and on
exhaustive research and thinking. The clinically-proven
techniques to which we will direct you (no matter where
you live) include mindfulness or Vipassana (insight)
meditation, and Pranayama, Kriya, and various forms of
more physical yoga, such as Hatha.
But why not just use the drugs?
The first step in dealing with depression is
this: DO seek out psychotherapy, and DO use
anti-depressants if prescribed. Once you have a
firmer foundation from which to do some real personal
work, it will be time to consider older, deeper
techniques. However, except perhaps in cases of
severe or chronic depression, I do not believe
medication is a viable long-term solution.
Existential Crisis
But there are serious existential issues in
using anti-depressants only: do anti-depressants really
“cure” depression – or merely superficially treat its
symptoms, and even then only for as long as the drugs
are taken? That is, anti-depressants may be in the
interests of pharmaceutical companies’ stockholders, but
many spiritual practitioners believe the drugs may
actively suppress our instinct, inclination, and ability
to take charge of our own spiritual and emotional
growth.
Even more pernicious, perhaps, is the growing
movement to “biologize” depression as purely a matter of
brain chemicals, which, while serving the admirable goal
of removing the stigma of depression as an affliction of
the weak or lazy, is also removing the time-honored
motivation for sufferers to transform their suffering
into learning experiences a la the Christian mystics’
“dark night of the soul” – and also inhibits critique of
the society, lifestyle, or personal goals that causes
such unhappiness and alienation.
This existential failing of conventional
therapy is the heart of the problem to be addressed by
Sitting in the Dark; the other failings of
pharmaceuticals have been provided above primarily in
order to highlight the marketing angle of the book for
publishers who today are looking for and marketing more
and more contrarian theses and books on spirituality.
The efficacy of alternative therapies for depression
fulfills both of these popular criteria.
Sitting in the Dark: Spiritual
Sustenance for Depression in a Starved Age
My advice and resources are based on both
an experiential background in yogic and meditation
practice that dates to the mid-1980s and on exhaustive
research, thinking, and even minutely observed attention
to my own experiences with depression, antidepressants,
and meditation. My counsel includes a closely reasoned
synthesis of major spiritual and wisdom traditions’
perspectives on mental illness.
I propose additional means of combating the
epidemic, whether in addition to or in lieu of modern
anti-depressants. These clinically-proven, if
under-publicized, means primarily include: the
transformative power of mindfulness or Vipassana
(insight) meditation, and Pranayama, Kriya, and various
forms of more physical yoga.
(Other clinically-proven but little-noticed
methods include acupuncture; negative-ion therapy
(negative ions are the reason you like the crash of
waves at the beach, or the sunshine); and a host of
cheap supplements (fish oil, numerous vitamin B
complexes, etc.) that have been proven in clinical
trials but drowned out by pharma marketing in a
get-well-quick world.)
There are a lot of books on depression.
There are many on meditation, including a few that
discuss handling difficult emotions. But very few books
on meditation explain how to negotiate the infamously
incessant darkness of depression, focusing instead on
means to be free of more conventionally transitory
emotions.
While major causes of depression do
include genetic predisposition and early childhood
trauma, proximate triggers are usually emotional
stressors such as relationship ruptures and economic
worries. And within those stressors, the micro causes
are an inability to feel and acknowledge feelings,
including unacknowledged fear, pain, and anger, as well
as self-accusation. Meditation – the art of
self-acceptance and calming or de-stressing of mind and
body – is an ideal remedy.
Other Pages on Spiritual Coaching:
Spiritual Life Coach --
Laura Svolos
Kriya Yoga Life Coach -- What Is Kriya Yoga?
Spiritual Coach --
Gerry Eitner
Spiritual Growth Coaching:
From Monty Python to the Bhagavad Gita
Health and
Spiritual Coaching
Spiritual Life
Coaching
Spiritual Life Coach -- At Feroce
Depression Self-Help
Meditation
and Yoga for Depression
Holistic Relationship Coach --
Christina Winsey-Rudd
Intuitive Life Coaching
Intuitive Life Coach
Contact us about
spiritual life coaching for depression that relies in
part on helping you to develop a meditation and yoga
practice.
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