![]() ![]() “We’ve seen a significant uptick in referrals from psychologists, especially for patients with anxiety,” says Steve Hickman, PsyD, executive director of the University of California San Diego Center for Mindfulness, where a variety of health care practitioners, including psychologists, conduct mindfulness research and offer classes for patients. Last year’s annual American Psychiatric Association meeting was sprinkled with seminars and sessions on yoga and meditation, and the Society for Integrative Oncology’s new guidelines endorse yoga and meditation as complementary treatments for anxiety in breast-cancer patients. In 2011, Harvard researchers published an analysis of data from a nationally representative sample of people and found that 3 percent (the equivalent of nearly 6.4 million Americans) had been advised by their health care practitioners to use mind-body therapies like yoga and meditation-and more than a third of those “prescriptions” were doled out to those who’d had a diagnosis of anxiety. I feel more comfortable prescribing holistic modalities like yoga.” Some of my patients struggle with anxiety, but I rarely prescribe medications. “Many in the medical community have had a bias toward medication, because until recently that’s what was most well studied,” says Jennifer Griffin, MD, an integrative medicine physician at the Institute for Health & Healing Clinic at Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation in San Francisco. Even so, Posner’s doctor’s recommendation to get on the yoga mat is surprising, as doctors and psychiatrists who treat anxiety (defined as persistent, excessive, and unrealistic worry about the future) are often slow to endorse the practice. “It helped me find a sense of peace in a turbulent time, and that’s carried over into my daily life.”Īsanas and breathwork have been calming jittery minds and smoothing the jagged spikes of stress for thousands of years. “The breathing helped, and being present in the poses taught me to stay in the moment and observe what was happening,” Posner says. She started a vinyasa class three days a week, and within a month she was sleeping better and her panic attacks had decreased. “He said it would help me relax, be more aware of my body and emotions, and handle what was happening.” “One of the first things he recommended was yoga,” she recalls. Desperate for help, she made an appointment with her primary-care doctor. Posner began taking medication to treat her depression and anxiety, but it wasn’t an ideal solution.“I didn’t like the way it made me feel because it sort of blunted my feelings,” she says. ![]() I went to the beach and just cried and cried.” One evening, my husband and I were out at a nice restaurant with friends, and I started feeling panicky-my heart was racing and I was sweating-and I had to leave. ![]() ![]() “I’d wake up in the middle of the night from terrible dreams, my heart pounding, and I started having anxiety attacks during the day. “When they put her in a special program again, she grew extremely sad and upset about it, recognizing her disability and separation from the ‘normal’ kids.” Watching her child suffer pushed Posner to a scary, unfamiliar place. “Eden is a high-functioning autistic child, and had previously been in some mainstream classes,” says the 52-year-old biochemist by training from Hollywood, Florida. When her daughter, Eden, entered the 1oth grade, Avigail Posner, ordinarily a self-described “strong, rational” woman, began to unravel. Here’s why doctors are increasingly recommending it as a complementary therapy. Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!įor those suffering from anxiety, yoga can be a lifeline. ![]()
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