’Tis the season that reintroduces us to breezy weather, our beloved rooftop brunches with friends and beachside spring break trips. That’s right, spring is right around the corner and given the spring fever some may feel after experiencing a hectic and brutally cold winter, it’s safe to say that spring is usually a happy and hopeful season.
But for some people, it can generate opposite feelings thanks to spring allergies, reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and general stressors that we face in our everyday lives.
An estimated 16.2 million adults in the United States had a least one major depressive episode in 2016 according to the National Institute of Mental Health (This means they experienced at least a depressed mood or loss of interest and at least four other symptoms of depression for a period of two weeks or longer). Additionally, women are 40% more likely to develop depression than men.
As someone who has been affected by depression and anxiety, I understand that living with depression can basically make your life so much harder than what it should be. At the time, I didn’t have the ability to seek a therapist and generally had an even more difficult time seeing the positive side in most situations.
As a result of wanting to have an outlet for my feelings of depression and anxiety, I turned to yoga. When I first started my practice, I knew yoga had some amazing benefits but I didn’t know how extensive they were. Once I became