Depression is a mental health issue that many struggle with for months or even years. Sadly, this disease is killing many people, with suicide rates skyrocketing. Part of the problem is that people don’t have access to the help they need to lead a healthy life again. While there are many effective ways to treat depression such as cognitive and behavioural therapy, they don’t always work for everyone. We examine how you can treat depression with Ayurveda and get back to a better state of mind!

Ayurveda & Depression

Depression is linked to many factors one experiences in their life such as loss, financial problems, stress at work, abusive relationships and many more. No matter what someone is going through, it’s their perception that is of utmost importance. Two people could be going through the same thing, let’s say a divorce. One person may really struggle with the event, spiralling into a depressed state, while the other could be handling it much better. The difference is how each individual is perceiving the situation and how it will impact their life in the future.

Learn About Your Sadhaka Agni

Ayurveda looks at this difference in perspective from the lens of a weak ‘Sadhaka Agni’. The Sadhaka agni within each person is one’s inner fire that is responsible for dissolving emotions. If your Sadhaka agni is out of balance or weak, it may be impacting your emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence has to do with how you control your emotions and how you let it impact your life. It’s not healthy to withhold your emotions, but it’s also not healthy to let them severely impact your everyday life. There needs to be a fine balance between emotional awareness and coping with those emotions.

Sadhaka agni influences the neurohormones which are in your brain, spinal cord and heart. When you experience a traumatic or emotional event, your heart sends a depressive signal to your brain if your sadhaka agni isn’t strong enough. With a strong sadhaka agni, the signal sent will be much more positive. Therefore it will help you deal with the emotional pain in a much healthier manner.

How to Strengthen Your Sadhaka Agni

There are many ways in which you can strengthen your Sadhaka agni. Below are a few methods Ayurveda takes into consideration when working towards helping you break out of your depression.

• Learn how to detach yourself from your emotions → Detachment from emotion is key when trying to break free of depression. While it’s a simple concept, it takes practice and consistency to implement into your life.
• Change your sleeping patterns → Excessive sleep is often a side effect of depression. In order to change your mental state it’s important to rise with the sun and sleep with the moon.
• Get in tune with your eating habits → The Kapha dosha in Ayurveda has to do with the body-mind connection and gets impacted when you are depressed. You can restore balance by eating the right foods such as plant-based whole foods.
• Get your yogi on → Yoga is used by many people to restore balance and help with a variety of health concerns. Yoga is good for the body and the mind.
• Smiling Meditation → This method of meditation at sending positive energy waves throughout the body, through smiling internally. You can learn more about this method of meditation through one of our practitioners.

Becoming aware that you are depressed is the first step towards recovery. Taking action is the second. Ayurveda takes a holistic approach to healing, looking for the root cause of the problem and dealing with it. Learn how you can adjust your mental health through Ayurveda in Melbourne.

If you or someone you know is struggling from depression, one of our licensed Ayurveda practitioners in Melbourne may be able to help you. Contact AyurClinic today to get started with a consultation.