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Yoga for your Mental Health: ‘It’s about showing up for yourself’

Struggling to manage your stress levels? Discover an effective tool for mental well-being in our latest People at the Heart podcast.

Claire Young demonstrating a yoga pose in a bright room with plants in the background, illustrating the calm nature of yoga

In this episode, debut host Jo Camp is joined by Claire Young, RebuildCostASSESSMENT.com team member and yoga instructor, to talk about how yoga can benefit both body and mind. From simple breathing techniques to quick desk exercises, Claire shares practical ways to ease anxiety—perfect for busy professionals and anyone looking to improve their well-being.


Imagine being able to step away from stress in just a few moments—no yoga experience necessary. Claire’s story of how she got into teaching yoga, plus her relatable tips, makes this an episode that is well worth a listen. Whether you're looking for stress relief or just a moment to breathe, this podcast offers valuable insights for everyone.


Ready to find out more? Tune in and discover how yoga could be your secret to better mental health this World Mental Health Day.


The transcript for this episode can be found below.



Visit www.yogawithclairej.co.uk for more details.


Transcript


Jo Camp  00:10

Hi everyone. I'm Jo Camp, and welcome to another episode of our People at the Heart podcast, where we like to chat all about serious and light-hearted things connected to our team and our work here at RiskSTOP Group. So, as we approach World Mental Health Week, today, I'm excited to be joined by Claire Young from the RebuildCostASSESSMENT team, who, in her own time, is a yoga instructor. We're going to chat about how yoga can boost your physical and mental health, something that feels especially important right now. Claire, welcome to the podcast. How are you today?


Claire Young  00:42

I'm really good. Thank you for having me.


Jo Camp  00:44

Thank you for coming. So, with Mental Health Week coming up, we are thinking about ways how we can improve our mental well-being. But before we get into the Mental Health Benefits of Yoga, I'd love to hear a bit about how you first got into yoga and what inspired you to teach.


Claire Young  01:00

So I've been doing yoga in some form or other since I was 18, which is too many years ago now. So first of all, when I first got into it, it was off the back of gymnastics and a way of enhancing flexibility, doing all the strong poses, all the Instagramable stuff! So to get into teaching it, I done my training kind of for me, really. So, it was something I never intended to teach. It was just to further my knowledge of yoga and just see it. And I could never imagine myself standing up in front of people teaching. I remember the first time in the class we had to talk about demoing a pose; I was shaking. I was this quivering wreck! And then, by the end, eight months later, I remember teaching my final class for my exam and just being like, "This is amazing." I really wanted to teach, I just didn't do anything with it straight away, I'd help out friends here and there. I'd done a bit of cover for friends, and I got quite poorly at work, and decided to step back and reevaluate what I was doing. So, actually came to work here, and then from there, being able to offer yoga in the workplace, and then starting to build up some classes outside of work. So it's been quite a long, long journey. And I'm glad to be at this end of it now.


Jo Camp  02:35

Exciting! That sounds really good, and how it's something that was really hard for you to initially get into to now, finding yourself out there in front of all these people, filling out classes and seeing that you're benefiting them as well as yourself.


Claire Young  02:52

It's amazing. I end up so wired or buzzing after my classes now. And I get really excited when I start talking about it.


Jo Camp  03:00

Really empowering! Now, often we hear that yoga can help with flexibility and fitness, but with Mental Health Week on the horizon, I'm really curious to know how it helps with mental health. Can you share a bit about how yoga can reduce stress and anxiety?


Claire Young  03:16

Definitely. So a lot of it will depend on what is causing your stress and anxiety, and sometimes the really physical practice might be what your body needs, then you just want to focus on your flows and your breathing. A lot of what we do is when we move, we're concentrating on our inhaling and exhaling. Which, in a way, can be quite calming. Depending on if you're burnt out or there's more exhaustion, you've got the more restorative based slower practices, where it gives you a chance to slow down. So an hour, essentially, to lay on your mat with different supported positions, which is something that you might never do, and actually something that your nervous system probably is really needing and really craving. You almost have to look at what you need. And sometimes, actually, is that making me more anxious? Do I need to slow it down? It does teach you to look at your body and really start to understand how you're feeling. My biggie is trying to create the safest place for my students, so they feel comfortable to do whatever they need to do. So if they're going to come in and the safest thing for them at that time is just to lay on that mat then I'll happily support them through it. From a breathing point of view, I love it when people come up to my desk and they're like, "Oh, that breathing exercise we done last week. I've been using it this week." It's as simple as counting our breaths in and out, maybe some breath retention. I teach different bits of breath for each month, and we focus on it. So they've then got that in their toolkit to take away and use whenever they need.


Jo Camp  05:04

So, talking about where people have found exercises that you've given them helpful within their work time and with their anxieties or stress, have you got an exercise that you could share that someone who is feeling anxious or stressed at work could use to just calm themselves down in that moment?


Claire Young  05:19

Yeah, definitely. So one of the ones we teach a lot in the class is something called box breath. And I encourage them to draw a box at the same time with their fingertip. And basically, as you go along, you inhale for 2, 3, 4, and then exhale 2, 3, 4, inhale, 2, 3, 4, and then exhale 2, 3, 4. And they essentially create a little box with their fingertips.


Jo Camp  05:50

I'm instantly calm just listening to it!


Claire Young  05:52

And you don't need to do it like that. When I teach children, I get them to sit back to back in a little circle, and they do it on each other's backs. Or you can just do it in your head, and then, there's so many things it depends on, like your levels of anxiety. Some people can pause their breath for 2, 3, 4, and then continue with the inhale, a pause and exhale and a pause. But it's very much dependent on your body, but even just your 1, 2, 3, 4, just gives you a chance to take that breath, to slow down and to try and just think and rationalise your thoughts sometimes is all you need.


Jo Camp  06:34

And then with that, as well, we are at our desk quite a lot through the day and can get very achy or feel like we're not getting up to get our steps in. Is there any exercises that you can share for someone that just needs to take that minute to readjust theirselves?


Claire Young  06:56

We were talking about this this morning in our class, like why are we worried about what people think if we just got up and done a stretch? It's not the end of the world. And we were like, "Oh yeah, it'd be totally normal, though, if I done it." So, something you can do in a seat is a seated cat-cow. So you pull your belly in and drop your head, and then you extend, opening your chest and looking up. And you can do a few rounds of that, and you can get your arms involved as well. So, anything like that. You can lean on your desk and stretch forward. You can get up and have a move. There's some nice seated. There are whole yoga classes around chair yoga.


Jo Camp  07:41

Oh really?


Claire Young  07:42

Yeah, I should run it. I should do a little 10-minute video.


Jo Camp  07:44

Yeah, and then it will just be the norm to walk around our office and see people doing all these exercises and movements.


Claire Young  07:52

It's so good. I've had a lot of chiropractor appointments because of my hips, and they think it was caused by sitting for too long. So they're like, "You have to get up every 20 minutes and keep moving." So it's really good to encourage yourself to get up and keep moving.


Jo Camp  08:08

Yeah, definitely. It's something that you forget to do when you're involved in tasks.


Claire Young  08:12

You're just so focused on what you're doing sometimes, and then to be like, "I've not got time to do that."


Jo Camp  08:17

Yeah, you don't have to take long doing it. It's just to make sure that you get that movement.


Claire Young  08:22

Definitely, and you end up being more productive when you are anyway because you've looked away from your screen, you've had a moment, and then you can go back to it with fresh eyes, and yeah, you're there.


Jo Camp  08:32

I might have to teach that to my son when he's gaming, actually, as well.


Claire Young  08:36

Good luck!


Jo Camp  08:38

So we also touched on earlier about you supporting people with their confidence of what their body can do and how comfortable they are when they're first getting into their journey of yoga. I've heard from people they're hesitant to start because they're not that flexible. They don't even know where to begin. Have you got any advice for someone that who feels like that about yoga?


Claire Young  09:00

Honestly, come and give it a go. You don't need to be flexible. It's not about being able to do the moves or the poses. It's showing up for yourself half the time on your mat. It doesn't matter if you can touch your toes or not touch your toes. We've got props, there's always other options. You'll probably surprise yourself in what you can do, and the person next to you is also feeling the same. I teach a lot of beginners on a Monday night, and I'm always so proud. But some of the proudest times I'll be is if I see one of my students actually doing the option that suits their body, or I see them reach for the prop and use the prop, and you're just like, yes, they're listening. You don't need to force your body into a shape that it's not comfortable in. There's always another option. We've got so many props. Always happy to find an option that works for you. So when I do see someone listening, I'm just like, "This is amazing. I'm so proud of you." So, yeah, I'm a bit of a cheerleader in my class.


Jo Camp  10:03

No, that's great, because it's like with anything, isn't it? It's that taking that initial step to making someone feel confident and comfortable to do it, and then the progression comes the more that you continue to show up for yourself, like what you said.


Claire Young  10:16

Definitely. And it's not always about coming to do the poses. Everyone in a class is on a different part of their journey, and it doesn't matter what's brought you to the class, whether you just need an hour to yourself, or it's an hour for you to move, or you want to learn more about your breath, or actually, you want to learn more about the philosophy. Everyone's got a different reason for being there. And you get what you need from it. The more you do it, I'd say, the easier it gets. We just find harder things to do.


Jo Camp  10:50

Thanks so much for sharing your insights today, Claire. Before we wrap up, where can people find more information about your classes, especially if they want to give yoga a try during World Mental Health Week?


Claire Young  11:00

They can find all of my class details on my website, which is YogaWithClaireJ.co.uk, or they can just come up to me in the office and ask me some questions if they want to.


Jo Camp  11:13

Perfect, that's wonderful. Thanks again. It's been a pleasure to have you on the podcast today! And that's it for this episode of our People at the Heart podcast. As World Mental Health Week approaches, take some time for yourself. Whether it will be trying yoga, practising mindfulness, or simply breathing deeply. We will be back soon with all kinds of things to talk about with different guests. So please keep your eyes peeled for more episode announcements on IRIS, and remember, here at RiskSTOP Group, it's all about keeping people safe and secure and believing in our social responsibility and sustainability. Thank you, everyone, for listening, and goodbye for now.

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