How Yoga Helped My Mental Health

About three years ago, I found myself perpetually on edge.

It started out as something good. I’d gotten my dream job, and it made me excited in a way I never thought possible. I was so excited I didn’t sleep for two nights after finding out.

While I did eventually calm down enough to sleep, I came to realize I had never truly calmed down. For two years, I was just a little too amped up all the time. And I found that after a while, that excitement gave way to fears and anxieties I’d never experienced before.

When I realized how on edge I had become, I decided one thing that would help me calm down was doing regular yoga. That’s when I found the Perfect Body Yoga Program.

Today, I’m going to tell you what this program did for my mental health and why I would pay for it ten times over.

Side note: This post was originally written about the Original Perfect Body Yoga Program, which closed to new enrollment in January 2020. However, I’ve also done the lastest version of the program, which is linked below, and I still love and stand by this program. These links are not affiliate links. I just really love this program.

Additionally, I am not a medical professional or personal trainer. The content of this post is based solely on my experience and should not be considered medical/health advice. If you have any concerns, you should consult a professional before making a health/dietary change.

What’s the Perfect Body Yoga Program?

The Perfect Body Yoga Program is an 8-week online yoga program from Bad Yogi. It’s built on the belief that the “Perfect Body” is simply the healthiest version of the body you already have.

But for me, this program went well beyond physical health. It brought me back to earth and gave me the tools I needed to get calm and to deal with stressors and anxieties that are outside of my control.

How this program helped my mental health

It calmed me

Seriously, this program gave me the calm I desperately needed. For two years, I was wound up all the time. And while I did get to a place where I could sleep, I found that I needed the help of melatonin on a significantly more regular basis than I had in the past.

I also found that I was anxious about things that were outside of my control in a way I never had been before. I worried if I would do well in my new job. I’d spent hours writing and proofreading a two paragraph email because I was afraid I wasn’t coming across clearly, or that there might be a mistake somewhere. This was so not me!

The Perfect Body Yoga Program helped me work through that excess stress and energy. I was able to detach from my anxieties and let them dissipate as I moved through the yoga sequence.

Additionally, the daily schedule gave me a healthy routine, which added stability to my daily life.

It changed my perspective

The Perfect Body Yoga Program comes with weekly mantras and meditations. I found that when I made an effort to remember these mantras throughout the week, I had a better, more positive perspective.

This perspective made it easier to squash any fears and anxieties that popped up. And it made it easier to deal with any challenges or unexpected obstacles that popped up on me.

I also found that the more I did the program and made an effort to remember the mantras, the more I internalized them. It got to the point that I no longer had to try to find a more calm or positive perspective. I simply had that perspective effortlessly.

It motivated me

The Perfect Body Yoga Program made it so easy to stick to a healthy routine and lifestyle that it made calming down and staying positive second nature.

And the more positive success and progress I had, the more motivated I became. This applied to not just the yoga program itself, but in all areas of my life.

I found that if I could find calm and success this easily and in a way that was this enjoyable, I had to be able to find the same success and joy in other aspects of my life.

It motivated me to try things that previously would never have occurred to me and to stick with them until I saw the benefits.

It made me more confident

Not only did this program motivate me to try new things, but it also made me confident enough to believe that I could and would succeed.

The Perfect Body Yoga Program showed me how much power I had. It helped me adapt an aspect of the world (health and fitness) to meet my own individual needs. That gave me the confidence to do the same in other areas of my life.

After seeing how much power I had to shape my own world, I had the confidence to speak up, to ask for what I need, and to make suggestions in a way never had before.

I also saw the power of commitment. This program made me believe that if I committed myself to something fully, I could make positive results happen.

In addition, the Program also made me physically stronger, which also helped my confidence level.

It made me more creative

I don’t know what it is with this program, but within weeks of starting it, I found I had a rush of creativity that would not be caged in. And I’m not the only one.

The program comes with a private Facebook group for users to support each other and share their experiences. So many people have said that this program has helped to remove creative blocks. And in most cases, we didn’t even know the creative block was in place to begin with.

It encouraged me to get out in nature

One thing the Perfect Body Yoga Program encourages is weekly walks–ideally, outside.

I have found these walks to be so beneficial for me mentally, that I’ve added additional walks throughout the week.

Getting outside in nature has helped me to detach from any problems I have and it gives me a fresh perspective on how to handle a situation. In the past, I had always overlooked walking as too simplistic to make a big difference, but in reality, it’s a mental and physical game changer.

The Bottom Line

The health benefits of the Perfect Body Yoga Program alone make it worth the cost. But it’s the mental health benefits that are truly invaluable. So much so that I would willingly pay for this program ten times over. I truly hope it has the same effect for you if you happen to give it a shot.

Click here to learn more about the Perfect Body Yoga Program. And if you want to add a little strength training, you can check out the yoga and strength training version of this program here.

You can learn all about how this program changed my life in this post.

Sound off: What’s been your top mental health benefit of yoga or any kind of exercise? Tell us about it in the comments!