Yoga for Anxiety Disorders: A Critical Bridge between Classical Practice and Modern Psychiatry
Abstract
Anxiety disorders involve persistent fear, worry, avoidance, and physiological arousal that impair daily life. Cognitive-behavioural therapy and medication remain established treatments, yet access, preference, adverse effects, and incomplete response create interest in adjunctive approaches. Yoga combines movement, breathing, attention, relaxation, and, in its classical context, ethical and contemplative discipline. This narrative review compares Yogic accounts of mental fluctuation and self-regulation with contemporary psychiatric evidence without treating the frameworks as equivalent. Trials suggest that structured Yoga can reduce anxiety symptoms, particularly in generalized anxiety and stress-related populations, but effects vary and Yoga has not consistently matched first-line treatment. Slow breathing, body awareness, exposure to internal sensations, attentional training, exercise, expectancy, and group support may all contribute. Claims of corrected GABA, serotonin, inflammation, or neural circuitry remain more tentative than symptom findings. Yoga should be offered as a preference-sensitive adjunct with qualified instruction, diagnostic assessment, adverse-event monitoring, and clear escalation pathways. Trauma-sensitive choice is especially important. Better research requires defined interventions, active controls, adequate samples, diagnostic outcomes, long follow-up, and comparison with evidence-based psychotherapy