The Link Between Yoga and Mental Health
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Practitioners have long known the secret that yoga makes you feel better. It has become a popular way to increase strength, improve balance, and enhance flexibility. We know that yoga is good for your body, but it is also very good for your mental health. Yoga practices can
reduce the impact
of exaggerated stress responses and may be helpful for those with depression and anxiety.
Natural Anxiety Relief
It is no surprise that yoga can reduce anxiety.
Studies
show
that yoga can be a powerful tool for calming your nervous system. Yoga lowers tension and promotes relaxation. It also helps regulate the breath and increase body awareness. In addition, yoga encourages mindfulness which in itself is effective in reducing anxiety. The breathing and meditation associated with yoga can take you out of the “fight or flight” mode that anxiety and panic bring about and help focus you in a more relaxed state.
Yoga postures, known as asanas, can also help ease the physical discomfort associated with anxiety. Strengthening, lengthening, and balancing the muscles can help relieve the tension in the body that builds up as a result of anxiety.
Help with Depression
A recent
study
showed that taking yoga classes twice a week could help relieve the symptoms of depression. Yoga postures coupled with controlled breathing had a mood-altering effect. Yoga can also help with depression because it can help you cultivate a more non-judgmental relationship with yourself. When you're depressed, it's easy to stop doing things for yourself, like eating healthy and exercising. Devoting even a small amount of time to yoga on a regular basis is an act of kindness towards yourself and treating yourself as someone worthy of being taken care of. You also learn to accept your body and its abilities. In addition, practicing yoga can help establish a sense of community and increase social attachments. This can lead to a better support system and help with feelings of loneliness associated with the symptoms of depression.
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If you or a loved one has a mental illness or intellectual/developmental disability and has been arrested or convicted of a crime, you need an experienced criminal defense attorney on your side. Elizabeth Kelley specializes in representing individuals with mental disabilities. To schedule a consultation call (509) 991-7058.
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Elizabeth Kelley
Criminal Defense Attorney
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Elizabeth Kelley is a criminal defense lawyer with a nationwide practice specializing in representing people with mental disabilities. She is the co-chair of The Arc's National Center for Criminal Justice and Disability, has served three terms on the board of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and serves on the Editorial Board of the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section Magazine.
Learn more
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On April 12, Elizabeth moderated a panel at Gonzaga University School of Law on the intersection of mental disabilities and the criminal justice system. Panelists included Judges Harold Clarke, Tony Hazel, and Vance Peterson; Kari Reardon, Spokane County Public Defender; David Carlson, Disability Rights Washington; and Professor Brooks Holland.
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How One Mother's Battle Is Changing Police Training On Disabilities
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This is the story of a mother who used the tragedy of her son’s death as an opportunity to education police about how people with intellectual and developmental disabilities may face difficult challenges when confronted by law enforcement. As Professor Seth Stoughton notes “It’s not always noncompliance. It’s not always resistance. Sometimes it’s inability. The officer very often will perceive that inability as refusal.”
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April 27
Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
New Orleans,
Louisiana
May 18
Pierce County, WA Minority Bar Association
Tacoma, Washington
May 29
NAMI-NYC
New York, NY
June 11
Iowa Association of Public Defenders
Des Moines, Iowa
July 22-26
International Academy of Law and Mental Health
Rome, Italy
October 3
American Psychiatry Association
New York, NY
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Elizabeth interviewed Lynn Nanos, a licensed social worker in Massachusetts, about her book Breakdown: A Clinician’s Experience in a Broken System of Emergency Psychiatry. Topics include anosognosia, the IMD exclusion, and malingering. (Please excuse the first minute of technical difficulties!)
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This is a powerful piece about a man in South Dakota with a long history of mental illness who killed his mother and nephew. It underscores many of the issues confronting families with a loved who has mental illness including the inability to secure treatment and the division within the family itself.
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FREE E-Book! Families' Guide to Working with a Criminal Defense Lawyer
When your family member with a mental disability has been arrested or charged with a crime, it can be a confusing and challenging experience that leaves you unsure of where to turn for answers. Here are some key things families can do to help the defense attorney handling their case.
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Representing People with Mental Disabilities: A Criminal Defense Lawyer's Best Practices Manual
Edited by Elizabeth Kelley, this book is available for purchase from The American Bar Association. It contains chapters devoted to a variety of issues confronted by people with mental disabilities in the criminal justice system such as Competency, Sanity, Malingering, Neuroscience, Jail and Prison Conditions, Working with Experts,and Risk Assessment. Chapters are written by academics, mental health experts, and criminal defense lawyers. In the Introduction, Elizabeth writes that "This is the resource I wish I had had many years ago."
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