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Yoga: A Treatment for OCD

Yoga, an exercise that can reduce the many affects of various diseases from lung disease, Parkinson's, insomnia, high blood pressure, multiple sclerosis, infertility and joint pain just to name a few. The yoga community recognizes the affects of this practice, alternative health care professionals and even some conventional health care professionals are beginning to come around realizing the mind and body are indeed one.

Stress is one of the major factors to illness, with certain yoga techniques; it can alleviate the stress the mind has forced onto the body that eventually breaks down, the barriers of the cells and create illness. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is stressful from the anxiety, and the obsession that is brought and the resulting compulsion to perform the rituals.

The sympathetic nervous system (amaygdala) in the brain can be the triggering mechanism for stress in our bodies. This is created when outside stimuli causes our brain to respond in a certain way. Almost everybody feels this response and usually acts accordingly and moves on. The person with OCD will see the same event and the amaygdala sends the fight or flight response instead. The person with OCD will take care of the situation just like everyone else, but the disease will force the compulsion to repeat the process over and over until the fight or flight response is satisfied. What happens physically during this response to our bodies is; the heart rate increases, blood pressure ascends, breathing begins to shallow, and the muscles tense up for the action to follow. Inside our bodies, the result of the previous responses is done, blood flow to internal organs is reduced and non-essential processes are shut down such as the elimination process and digestion. The action of the fight or flight response is beneficial when harm or danger is about to ensue. However, problems begin to arise when this response goes on for an extended period of time, the fight or flight response is only expected to last for a short period of time. A natural way to end this extended response is name the parasympathetic nervous system or in common terms, the relaxation response. When the elements that cause the fight or flight response are gone, muscles begin to relax, breathing deepens and blood flow is returned to normal with all bodily processes turning on. It is the purpose of yoga to increase this bodily process which will eliminate the harmful effects of the stress an OCD sufferer encounters on a daily basis.

It is undeniable the effects of yoga gives to the healing process. It is important to remember that yoga is not the cure for OCD, but just one of the techniques to help alleviate the stress one with OCD encounters daily. Yoga will help the mind and body relax so that it can heal itself, but for OCD sufferers, medication and cognitive therapy may also be used. Use yoga with the aid of your health care professional and mental health professional to heal the mind, body and soul.