Masters of Health Magazine May 2018 | Page 80

You will gradually accept the fact that the best thing for your self-help and self-indulgence is moderate but regular exercise. It is known that physical activity encourages the production of endorphin neurotransmitters responsible for a sense of satisfaction, and it is also proven to stimulate the growth of new brain cells. After exercise, you will feel better because of serotonin that supports the feeling of happiness. Exercising outdoors, as well as exposing to the sunlight certainly help too.

One of the best, if not the best, self-help techniques in treating depression, is exercising some of the martial arts skills. Practising martial arts not only relieves and removes depression but also greatly prevents its return. Certainly one of the most effective exercises is the breathing exercise, whether it is a known technique of breathing yoga - pranayama, or similar breathing technique - uyai, or kung-fu breathing technique -chi kung, or karate technique -kokya (aikido, tae kwon do) or breathing technique with the emphasis on exhalation technique - kiai (kihap). The breathing technique helps people with depression to relax and calms them down. One of the best ways to breathe is the technique in which a slow inhalation is carried out through the nose while you count up to three, followed by a shorter pause, and a slow release on the mouth with a count of six. The breathing can be performed so that we breathe first and then later, through the other nostril. Another method of breathing is the more powerful inhalation of the nose, followed by the more powerful exhalation of the mouth, with the knocks being carried out by the kiai (kihap). The sufferers from depression should initially practice breathing techniques next to the windows in their bedroom or living room, and only after a while in their backyard or nearby park.

Certainly, proper meditation will also help the patients, but it needs to be done gradually and with control. They will also be helped to perform the appropriate katas (forms), especially those with an emphasis on breathing technique. It is well known that some of the kata (forms) are considered as a kind of meditation on the move (sanchin,tensho, wuji-qigong,thai chi, etc.). It is also good if those suffering from depression while performing the kata, perform only some sections of the kata, not the entire kata, especially not some complicated and harder (masterful) kata. At the beginning, the kata can be run in their own flat, then in the yard or in the nearby park, and later somewhere in the nature.

Depressed people need to leave their home after a certain time and start practicing in the nature and outdoors, preferably with exposure to sunlight. Starting a training session for the sick will be initially quite a traumatic and stressful event. The depressed person will be very reluctant to come to the training. It is very important for instructors, or their assistants, to learn that such a person can behave rather uncommonly. They should note that a certain sick person is dejected, slow, acting sadly and listlessly, and above all, avoiding other exercisers and searching for solitude. It is good for such persons (and probably they will ask for it themselves) to let them do some training alone. Do not force them into training or ask to do some more complicated or heavier task because too many demands can increase the feeling of failure. Give such people some lightweight task for which you are sure they will successfully solve, and praise them for a well-done one, preferably in front of the others.

Exercising martial arts greatly increases people's awareness of themselves and their abilities and eliminates anxiety.

It is good for a depressed and anxious person to be in the company of stable personalities with strong character, who will show them that various life problems can be treated as a specific challenge rather than some unsolvable problem.