A Mind of Your Own: The Truth About Depression and How Women Can Heal Their Bodies to Reclaim Their Lives

by Kelly Brogan

To start, on the night before your thirty days, take nineteen minutes to try the following exercise. It’s a kriya (yogic series) that can powerfully take the garbage out from your cluttered mind and infuse your path with potential.* Read the instructions once through, then use a timer for each of the three parts. It goes like this: Part One: Sitting in easy pose (cross-legged on the floor or on a chair with your feet flat on the floor), stretch the spine up straight and close your eyes. Hands rest on your knees with the tip of your index finger touching your thumb on each hand (this is called Gyan Mudra). Drink the breath in in a single long sip through a rounded mouth. Then close the mouth and exhale through the nose slowly and completely. Continue for 7 minutes. Part Two: Inhale and hold the breath comfortably. As you hold the breath in, meditate on zero. Think to yourself: “All is zero; I am zero; each thought is zero; my pain is zero; that problem is zero; that illness is zero.” Meditate on all negative or emotional mental and physical conditions and situations, and as each comes to mind, bring it to zero—a single point of light, a small, insignificant nonexistence. Exhale and repeat for 7 minutes, breathing in a comfortable rhythm. Part Three: Think of the quality or condition you most desire for your complete happiness and growth. Summarize it in a single word such as “wealth,” “health,” “relationship,” “guidance,” “knowledge,” “luck.” Lock on to this single word and...