It is not a coincidence that one of the readers Cri Cri was asking for an article on depression and the Ayurvedic and Yogic principles on what causes this problem, and I am in London treating a client who is taking anti depressants. She has been relying on these for a while and she likes to take them as they help her to forget and numb the pain of having to deal with certain aspects of her life, especially the passed. After meeting her today and doing treatments, yoga and some habit changes of eating and sleeping times, she did not smoke or take her anti depressant for the whole day. This is self power.
I wanted her to experience the energy change in her mind and body and to better understand that we only become addicted to substances (be it food or drugs) because we choose to and not because ‘it just happens.’ It happens because we allow it to out of choice. The drugs are not only toxic but they are a big distraction for a person who should be dealing with the issues at hand, but now feels mellow and removed as the drugs have a numbing feeling. Each time we medicate ourselves more, it is harder to come out of the ‘coma cloud’ to try and face life and the root of the problem. This is commonly done when people drink alcohol.
Depression has its roots in the mind where a person by choice refuses to deal with the issues or passed difficulties they have attracted. These difficulties are there to make us stronger and each time we go through these challenges we learn a new lesson which helps us with the next challenge. You see we need each moment to guide us to the next, otherwise we become lost. It is the avoidance of these learnings which bring a person into ‘crisis mode’ where they are not prepared for the next lesson by experiencing the last. Like a student who skips class and keeps falling back. Taking a pill means we just don’t want to learn what we should be learning. We just can’t learn under the influence of drugs that alter the chemical balance of the mind. We need to be in the mind and not out of it to face our challenges.
Also when we get depressed it is a question of control. We want one thing and we get another. Here if we remove our expectations that things will turn out the way we have planned them, then when another thing happens we are accepting towards this new situation (whether we perceive it as positive or negative). The key is acceptance and to let go of control, with an understanding that we are only in control of our speech, actions and mind, so we should put our efforts into these and not trying to control the world and people around us. This is self control and discipline leading to patience and peace and not to a personality a called ‘control freak.’
Depression also puts the attention on the individual and their misery which is why depressed people hang around with negative and other depressed people. To come out of this selfish emotion one needs to practice yoga, yoga breathing (nadi sudhi) and meditation, combined with dietary changes, regulating sleep time and controlling the sexual urges. This is to allow the mind to elevate to a higher thinking pattern and exit the limited emotional level which is heavy. Practice is the key to all change.
Yogi cameron
Power is in the mind and the body will follow. There are many of these example as the mind is the controller of the body so when we decide on something it will happen.
on Oct 23rd, 2008 at 9:12 am
Hello Yogi Cameron,
I really don’t know if ‘depression’ can only be subjected to ‘ a mind game ‘.I,for example have gone through pitch darkness which has made me a spiritual warrior.Yes,I am a spiritual warrior.Today,for example,I woke up feeling GREAT and several hours later,without any outward disturbance I begin getting psychic attacks and now since the couple of hours ago and uptill now,I am at war on the spiritual level and I am very wounded.All this,causes me to be depressed too besides other bad feelings caused in me.I’m not sure if anyone reading this will be helped out at all leave alone understands what i am talking about.As i have mentioned before,i am into light work and always fighting the dark.Maybe in my case too and in cases like mine, Ayurvedic and Yogic lifestyles will help.I think so.Just that the fight is so tough.I have not been free from it before and neither am i free from it now.I guess i have to live with it.
Okay,actually i have some things to say about anti-depressants but i don’t have the energy right now - (maybe later).If i feel an energy to do so.
I’ve got to gather my strength now and slay the demon.
Namaste Yogi Cameron and namaste to all.
Slay the demon - that’s all you got to do.
on Oct 23rd, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Yogi Cameron, - i have a very serious issue regarding demons.Round about one and a half to two years ago,i sought a healer,here where i am,and i was intoduced to a certain book and thoughts and techniques.All well and good.But eversince i am constantly demonizing everything around me,be it situations and or people.And this is so easy for me to do because i literally have been getting attacked by foul odours,guys drooling spit and hitting me like an inhuman and making strange beast noises and by my body being attacked in specific parts of my body with severe pain all of a sudden with no medical reasons for it.All these things for over twenty years and it only got from bad to worse and i never got love.And for me depression has no more to do with only outward issues but it is a serious problem born out of darkness and demons.I do everything i can to pull myself out of this,but i am not quite successful.I’m sorry i couldn’t keep quiet any longer.
on Jan 21st, 2009 at 4:43 am
I am greatly discouraged to continue my yogic practices, something tells me I have kundalini syndrome. (not sure ofcourse, but I get these surges and tingles from the tail bone to the top of my head. I am constantly battling my own mind and it seems all so futile. I am so very awake and aware, and my mind is on full speed all the time. I feel manic moments and a weird feeling that scares me. I have constipation because of the suppressed emotions and I feel like I’m in hell. It’s only been worse and worse ever since I progressed in my practices. I can hardly get any decent night’s sleep because I hallucinate because I see energy and whatnot in the atmosphere now, and I see things when I close my eyes. I am so very manic and awake, I can only take 1 day at a time, but even 1 day feels like a year because my mind is always there to fuck my emotions and body giving me great anxiety and impending doom. I hate being ‘this’ awake. And if I can’t control my mind, if I can’t keep myself in chess, (which requires alot of mental effort and technique), I die a little bit inside, every day. I’m amazed I’ve managed to keep it up this long. I am considering going to the doctor to take some tests, but I know it is my ego, or mentality that keeps haunting me. But I’ve always lived a life of lots of analysing and mental activity. I never knew comfortable living mentally nor physically. I don’t wanna be this awake, I can’t control my life this intense. I don’t know what else to do but to consider changing myself totally, and take 1 day at a time. Or even 1 hour. This is by far the worst experience in my life. And the worst thing, it’s solely mental/spiritual. I am thinking if I keep up the yoga it will get worse and maybe something will happen, but I am totally changed already, and I am humbly because I don’t know how long I can take this.. I hate seeing energy and electromagnetic oscillations. And most of all I hate being this deep into neurotic thoughts being so deep in myself. I’ve never experienced it before. I’m at the verge of constant manic patterns. (Noticed this is almost entirely negative, but I had to get it out anyhow.) I don’t know a thing about natural living and being true to yourself and others. I’m a cheater to myself and others. Somehow I’ll manage? That’s all I can think?
on Feb 23rd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
I think the main thing to return to in these situations is that what is occuring in your mind is your choice, to let go of the expectation of how you should feel, and to aim for balance within your life. Fear is the root of anxiety, and anxiety is greatly related to depression.
Balance and purity. Purity is not only limited to what we put in our bodies or wear, it is what we allow to come into and go out of our lives. I find that assessing my actions to determine if they are putting me in the path of inner purity can weed out a lot of the unnecessary that confuses me, makes me act in detrimental ways, and basically clutters up my life.