Seven ways to heal from depression

In 2004 I found myself down there, blue, hopeless, exhausted, disoriented.  I was so desperate I almost entertained "those" kinds of thoughts, so much so that I went as far as to contact Wayne Dyer at Hayhouseradio hoping to talk to him on the air, live, and to my surprise I got in.  Number one is what he said to me:


1. Get out of your mind and go help someone.   Today there are people who need your help, down the hallway for example, someone in your office may need a sounding board to talk to, or a charity might put some money to good use, or your local volunteering organization may need someone to help feed the elderly on a Saturday morning.

But it does not have to be so fancy, you could also call that friend you know who is going through a rough time but been avoiding and say hello, offer a "conversation space". You may think you will be helping someone, but in truth you will be helping yourself, it works.

2. Check nutrition.  Lots of sugar? Lots of coffee? No water? No wonder!. Just for a week try and drink more water, ease in on the caffeine, eat more greens (spinach salad with Flax seed oil), and also look for supplements that will help you.  For example, in the movie "Food Matters" alternative (out of the box) doctors talk of a girl who was completely depressed to the point of never leaving her room.  They started giving her high doses of Niacin (B-3 picture left) and all of a sudden she started talking to her family and even eating with them.  Then other doctors, perhaps more established doctors (I take this with a grain of salt as the movie is a bit of a social protest) told her not to do that, and back to her corner she went.

By all means, always talk to a doctor, but also listen to your body. Make sure you are eating fruits, "all the colors of the rainbow" as is said.  No more bagels in the morning,  no more eggs and fries, change it for real nutrition for your body.

Other supplements that help me with lifting moods are SAM-e, DHA, B-complexes, Spirulina (to get those greens).

3. Meditate.  Consider the picture below.  It is by an organization called Cure Together that gathers data from a community with similar symptoms and analyzes results, they have been working on this with 944 people for over 2 years. Meditation is in the popular and effective quadrant!  Here are 7 things I wish someone had told me before I started meditating, but basically, whenever it is possible, turn your mind to blank, let the thoughts go and just focus on the breath.   Pretend you are a scientist that needs to put 100% concentration for a few minutes into the breath as if the survival of the world depended on it.  It does.  Thoughts will pop up, acknowledge them and let them go.  If you are daring and blessed to have a few days consider attending a free Vipassana course, they are very effective and attending one has actually transformed me for the better, they are also all over the world..  If you do not have 10 days then consider attending a Shambhala retreat, they have light introductory courses with wonderful results and they have centers throughout North America.

4. Rest.  Use Sunday afternoon for a nap, and Tuesday evening too.  And Saturday morning as well. Yes, you deserve it.  Practicing "ahimsha" (non-violence) towards ourselves is perhaps the most difficult challenge of a yogi, recognizing when we are tired, giving ourselves space to slow down, these are not just vital necesities, they are also tests to our ability to surrender, to live a yogic life.  Of course we exercise discrimination but we also pay attention to when the body needs rest, and respect that.

5.  Wear a rubber band around your wrist for one week.  Whenever you hear yourself complaining hit yourself really hard with it.  The body learns quickly,  let it help you.  Complaining is a dark energy that keeps dragging us down, it procreates quickly and tints the world in fearsome shades, I wrote about it because I believe bringing complaining to a stop is a major achievement, here are 8 reasons why you and I should just stop it.

6. Get some sunlight.  Do it, go for a walk, see the sun, or nature, connect with it.  Sunlight is in the "surprisingly effective" category in the chart up there, give it a chance

7. do your yoga. Iyengar is known for saying that if you expose your armpits to fresh air every day you will not get depressed.  I know I do cause yoga does that for me, but yoga does a lot more things, it gets the blood circulating and the breath going deeper. Exercise is a mood lifter, give it a chance.  If you don't know what yoga to start with consider these seven options.

A good read to accompany on the journey to health is Yoga for Depression.  Amy is a good writer who has been there, she is a teacher in the tradition of Kripalu.

(foto credits sad egg, and happy egg)