I feel I must be extremely careful when I speak about more holistic approaches to OCD recovery. Ultimately there are lots of useful tools that can help us manage day to day life, build resilience and make us more psychologically flexible. However, if any of these are used in a compulsive way it could be argued that they are not assisting with recovery but potentially delaying it.
As with so many things in life there is incredible nuance here and I can only really go off my own personal experience.
I remember the first time I heard someone say that ‘breathwork is a coping mechanism’ and how completely outraged I felt about it. Breathwork, in particular the physiological sigh, was completely life changing for me, but having thought about it some more I can see how in an ideal world we shouldn’t need to control our breathing to feel OK – I do believe it still has it’s place but that’s probably another post.
So it’s not as simple as we’d like it to be but here are some things I know:
- Getting rid of the thoughts is not the aim in OCD recovery
- Managing and maintaining good mental health, as with good physical health, is a lifelong task.
- If we take good care of ourselves, making sure we get good sleep, nutrition, movement, relaxation and social connections in our lives, we build higher resilience and are therefore better able to let the thoughts pass through more easily.
- Yoga is highly accessible for everyone – it meets you where you’re at
- Movement matters, when we can’t shift our minds moving our bodies helps move the chemicals through more quickly.
- If you find it hard to meditate but know you should, yoga can be a moving meditation.
I have personally practiced yoga for years and have taught it for the last 6. I can honestly say, it has the potential to change the way you think and feel. It brings me joy, the ability to help and connect with others and takes me out of my busy mind, if only for a short while.
At the heart of yoga is awareness and when we have OCD so many things can become automatic, yoga brings you back into the moment and asks you to question automatic habits and thoughts.
Now I’m not saying it’s a cure, I still have OCD, but like I said at the start it’s not about getting rid of the thoughts but being able to see them for what they are, just thoughts. Yoga helps build the resilience and awareness to do this more easily.
A lot of people when they think of yoga, think of Instagram reels of people doing crazy poses but once you start to dig a bit deeper you see that there is unbelievable depth and variance to the practice. Yoga is most definitely for everyone, and I have seen it transform and change multiple people. I can safely say that you will not regret adding yoga in as a tool to your toolbox.
Not sure where to start? Then check out my short course here – I did write this course a few years back now and I’m hoping to add some updates in the future but the basic practices are still a great place to get started.
I hope it helps, As always
Stay Strong xxx
Conquering OCD 