ordinary enlightenment for extraordinary times

Despite the availability of many treatment options, depressive disorders remain a global public health problem. Even in affluent nations, 70% of reported cases either do not receive the recommended level of treatment or do not get treated at all, and this percentage does not reflect cases of depression that go unreported due to lack of access to health care, stigma, or other reasons.

In developing countries, the World Health Organization estimates that <10% receive proper depression care due to poverty, stigma, and lack of governmental mental health resources and providers. Current treatments do not work for everyone, and even people who achieve remission face a high risk of recurrence and residual disability.

The development of low-cost effective interventions that can serve either as initial therapy for mild symptoms or as adjunctive therapy for partial responders to medication is an immense unmet need. Positive activity interventions (PAIs), such as yoga[1], teach individuals ways to increase their positive thinking, positive affect, and positive behaviors.

The majority of such interventions, which have obtained medium-size effect sizes, have been conducted with non-depressed individuals, but two randomized controlled studies in patients with mild clinical depression have reported promising initial findings.

In this article, the authors review the relevant literature on the effectiveness of various types of PAIs, draw on social psychology, affective neuroscience and psychopharmacology research to propose neural models for how PAIs might relieve depression, and discuss the steps needed to translate the potential promise of PAIs as clinical treatments for individuals with major and minor depressive disorders.

Kristin Layous, MA,¹ Joseph Chancellor, MA,¹ Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD,¹ Lihong Wang, MD, PhD,² and P. Murali Doraiswamy, MBBS, FRCP²

¹Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, CA.

²Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC.

Address correspondence to:

Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD

Department of Psychology

University of California

Riverside, CA 92521

E-mail: sonja.lyubomirsky@ucr.edu

See full ariticle

http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2011.0139

Thursday, May 3, 2012 6pm yoga class cancelled.  Our apologies for any inconvenience.

“Enchanted loom where millions of flashing shuttles weave a dissolving pattern, always a meaningful pattern thought never an abiding one.”
Sherrington

Good morning, just to let everyone know.  The 8:30am class is cancelled this morning, Monday, April 23, 2012.  All other classes running as per schedule.  See you on the mat,
Denise

looking for heroes who are willing to jump into the deep end of spiritual practice…
Call Christie to register:  519-583-1200
The Twisted Fish:  339 Main St., Port Dover, ON, N0A 1N0
email:  christiewardell@gmail.com

Celebrate the joy of being. Come to yoga this week and celebrate spring with us on the mat and beyond.

Listen to your heart today and do something that you would not ordinarily do. Buy flowers, or jewellery, go for a walk, visit a friend, what ever it is that you do, change it up.  If you have been meaning to get to a yoga class, pick today, just get up and go.  If you keep meaning to get back to yoga or meditation, just go.  Let go of busy and make time for you.  Everything and everybody can wait one hour while you pull out and take care of yourself.  Be an adventurer in your own life.

Fresh flowers, a high ceiling, white space, type face, sleeping silhouettes, clean sheets, music, movement, things that are sacred and graceful move me to write, to chant, to flow into prana and apana, to move my body and remember.  Write to me, info@atlasstudio.com and tell me what inspires you, what moves you to practice or not, what speaks to you.

Check out this beautiful, inspiring blog….
http://ellasedge.blogspot.ca/2012_03_01_archive.html

Spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere on March 20, 2012, at 1:14 A.M. (EDT).  The word equinox is derived from the Latin words meaning “equal night.” The spring and fall equinoxes are the only dates with equal daylight and dark as the Sun crosses the celestial equator.  While it is officially spring today, our spring schedule will be up by Monday, March 26, 2012 and will begin on Monday, April 2, 2012.  All classes running according to the winter schedule this week and next.

Our Grand Opening is scheduled for the Week beginning Saturday, April 14, 2012.  Look forward to more news about upcoming events and special promotions.

Enjoy the sun,
Denise

We have a slightly modified schedule for the week of March 12-16, 2012.  Sarah is off to teach at the Cambridge Centre for the Arts and the 8:30am classes will be cancelled this week.  The School of Architecture classes will still be running and the 4pm classes on Monday and Wednesday will run as per usual.  The Thursday 6pm class is cancelled this week as well.  We will be posting information about our grand opening at the Southworks location in the coming days. Watch for important announcements and schedule changes.  If you have any questions or feedback please email us at info@atlasstudio.com.

See you on the mat,
Denise