There are so many reasons why yoga is an attractive intervention for mental health issues, not least because of its ability to support emotional balance. This extends to certain philosophical tenets espoused by the yoga tradition, which appeal to many mental healthcare practitioners.
The philosophy of the higher self as pure consciousness or sheer awareness, unchanging and unaffected by the fluctuations of the lower mind, provides a contrast to the tendency of many modern psychological interventions to focus on the diagnosis and fixing of pathology. Mental health issues arise, in the yogic view, when the vrittis hold sway over an individual’s attention so that the state of pure consciousness is obscured.
According to this yogic view, the mind cannot be inherently tarnished, nor can someone be defined by their mental health complaint. In other words: There is nothing to be fixed – a viewpoint that supports radical acceptance of the self. As the psychologist Carl Rogers put it, “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself, just as I am, then I can change.”
This philosophical viewpoint underpins so much of the value of yoga in mental health, contributing not only to reduced stigma but also to greater emotional balance and inner resilience. It can also lead to better outcomes, partially because individuals are more likely to seek treatment when they feel less shame about what is troubling them, and also because negative perceptions about mental health add an additional layer of stress.
You are not a problem to be fixed.
