Stressed and depressed

[11jono11]

Heylo fellow AYPers.

I am currently quite stressed and occasionally depressed. I was recently pre occupied with a potential relationship about which I got confused about and have now just left alone (for now), this was causing some depression + negative possessive feelings. But that doesn't quite matter anymore.

My main issue at the moment is stress around Uni work. I do not feel like I work well academically, I am training to be a psych nurse and at the moment feel like I am having a break down regarding my essays/ dissertation etc, and then when I am not stressed about that I have some residual depressive symptoms. It is hard to tell what are Kundalini symptoms and what is general life irritation. additionally I am unable at the moment to do any of the Kundalini stabilizing exercises etc due to limited time (student nurse 37 hours a week + essays + chores + Sadhana).

Whenever I sit down to work on my dissertation I almost instantly get a headache, I don't understand a lot of what is going on (regarding uni work)  and it's causing a lot of stress. I am looking into additional support from the uni to help with understanding but can anyone suggest anything to help deal with this stress / help me with my assignments?  

I really think / am sure this is simply down to essays etc as I always seem to get like this around them.

Om

Love

x

[amoux]

Just to get a feel for where you're at, could you let us know what your practice routine is at the moment - and also, have you recently added time or a practice to your routine?

My gut feeling is that it may be time for some stringent self-pacing, and also some grounding - but once I know what your routine is, hopefully I and others can be of some more practical help.

Much love

[11jono11]

Sometimes full AYP asana routine. Brief asana routine at least, 10 mins SBP, between 0-5 YMK, 20mins DM, 5 mins resting period x2 daily.

(Made some tiny edits to original post to be clear)

Love

[amoux]

From Lesson 91 - Yoni Mudra Kumbhaka - you might find it useful to review this:

http://www.aypsite.com/plus/91.html

Note particularly (my bolding):

"Do not overdo it. Kumbhaka is the most powerful of all the direct kundalini stimulators. If three repetitions are good, then maybe in a month try four. After a few more months, you could consider trying five repetitions. Like that. Don't start doing five or ten right out of the gate. A very slow buildup is the way to go, and then only if you are smooth in all your practices and in daily activity."

Since one of the things that YMK does is purge the third eye, I'm wondering whether that might be contributing to the headaches you're experiencing.  I'd be inclined to stop YMK for a week or so and see whether there is any improvement.  I'm sure others will have some good suggestions too.

I'm glad to hear you're organising help and support for your uni work - and hope that will be of real benefit to you.

Much love

[LittleTurtle]

If it were me, I would not do any kind of intense yoga while in nursing school. Just being in nursing school alone stresses you plenty and you're adding intense yoga practices to the mix. You might try cutting back to 20 mins DM w/rest and perhaps two or three easy type asanas. Go easy on yourself.