How Yoga Eased My Anxiety: A Personal Journey Through Seasonal Affective Disorder

If you know me, you might remember that every winter I struggle with low mood and anxiety from the lack of light. In short, you could say I get seasonal affective disorder (SAD). For the last few years I’ve been using a SAD therapy light. I can’t say for certain it works, but every morning I reached for it, hoping for even a tiny bit of relief.

This year, though — and we’re already close to Christmas — I haven’t even taken it out of the cupboard. To be honest, I didn’t even think about it until a few days ago. That’s good, isn’t it?

I’ve also noticed that I haven’t felt anxious or that deep, draining generalised anxiety (the kind that hits me regardless of the season) for quite a while.

Maybe it’s because I had a late camping holiday this year, which made winter feel shorter. Or maybe I’ve simply reached an age where hormones are a bit less chaotic.

But I can actually pinpoint one moment several months back.

Every Wednesday morning I join an online yoga class with a senior international Ashtanga teacher at 6.30. On this particular morning, I woke feeling awful. Something had been on my mind the night before and I barely slept. I thought, There’s no way I can do 90 minutes of Ashtanga this morning. But since I was awake anyway, I decided to get on my mat, keep it gentle, take a long relaxation and finish early. (It’s a Mysore-style self-practice class, where you work through your Ashtanga sequence at your own pace and the teacher watches and assists verbally.)

So I stood on my mat. I chanted. I did my sun salutations, then standing poses…

And before I knew it, I’d done the entire practice — including drop-backs and handstand — and then shavasana (final relaxation).

When I came out of shavasana, I had a very clear sense (almost like my own voice saying), “Who are you kidding? You’re much stronger than you let yourself believe.” I actually wrote about it at the time — you can read it here.

It was such a powerful moment, but I never imagined it would have any lasting impact.

Yet here I am, months later. Looking back, yes, it must have been a turning point, at least for now. From that day, I haven’t felt anxious, or overly worried, or trapped in overthinking.

Was it an enlightenment? An epiphany? It certainly felt like one at the time, though I’m sceptical enough not to fully believe it.

What do you think? I still don’t believe a single incident has magically rewired my mind or cured my tendency to overthink.

But so far… I’ve been good.