Client is seeking yoga therapy for depression, grief and anxiety. After the tragic loss of a friend he is challenged with completely daily tasks and responsibilities including hygiene, meals, and preforming at his job. This cycle has started to bring panic attacks at night that are affecting his sleep at night and causing him to sleep in.

Over 4 weeks offered a 30 minute asana practice first thing in the morning that begins and ends with 3 minutes of breath work. An afternoon walk in nature 3-5 days a week. Offered a recorded 5 minute guided Bhkati yoga meditation for the evening time. Suggested spend 5 minutes before bed to write or draw in a journal.

Client is a 21 year old male. No physical health issues or medications. Briefly after the passing of his best friend he took Xanax but discontinued use. He has a labor intensive job that he enjoys but his friend worked with him so has a hard time showing up. He typically works out daily and has a mild yoga practice. He has a healthy diet and lifestyle but smokes marijuana daily and stated not willing to give it up. He has a loving family life and a long term girlfriend.

The plan I put together after the initial intake and interview I envisioned mostly being successful due to him seeking the therapy with his symptoms being on the severe side. I did expect some resistance with the Bhakti yoga meditation expecting the stillness of the mind to be a challenge at the start of trying meditation for the first time.

Hatha, used asana and breath work daily.
Bhakti, a guided meditation to be used at night to settle the mind and incorporate a spiritual meaning of the end of life.

The client used all of the tools suggested and reported back what was worked well for his depression and axiety and noticed what was effective for his grief. He was no longer taking any meds and was lessening his marijuana intake. He was choosing to share his experience with friends that he worked with and took walks with a few times a week. He appeared to be more a bit more rested and made a little more eye contact.

The journaling was not something that worked well for this client so we changed to writing memories of his friend and this seemed to work very well. During the time of the writing memories he chose to put on meditation music, and did this instead of the bhakti meditation but found it very effective and I agreed. Also, he wasn't doing the breath work but was enjoying asana so I added some breath movements for him so he would still get the benefits.

This plan was extremely successful for this individual, his grief and stress began to lift during our time and noticed that the asana practice effectively helped his depression and anxiety. Has decided to continue on with and daily practice including the breath work with motion. There is more work to continue on in this case to ensure the depression is under control. The walks with friends has turned into a running program a few days a week and is also really assisting with the ease of depression and stress.

We adapted the mediation and the breath work, while we found ways to incorporate a version of these in his daily practice. The biggest lesson I learned is not to add too much quiet time when working with grief because it seems to be a trigger. The journaling adaptation with the soothing music playing while writing memories turned out beautifully and still holds to the Bhakti teachings. I will use this moving forward when working with depression or grief.

If faced with the same situation I would mostly have the same approach for the stress of grief. I learned the asana and breath can work together as a moving meditation. Would also incorporate the walking as a walking meditation as well because the keeping the mind and body active seemed to be more effective for grief which seems to make someone feel lathargic which adds to depressed emotions. Activating the sympathetic nervous system is key. Also would suggest the memory journaling because it has such a spiritual connection to the loss whatever it is. Meditation can be added as time moves on in more sanctuary practice but over time during the therapy instead of at the beginning.