Happier through yoga

Mt. Lebanon native to speak about winning her fight against depression

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

By Pohla Smith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Amy Weintraub, raised and educated in Mt. Lebanon, returned home with a degree from prestigious Boston University and plunged herself into an award-winning television production career.

Later, she moved back to New England and got a master's degree in fine arts from Bennington College's vaunted writing program, and soon she was winning awards for writing fiction, too.

Weintraub, however, was not happy. She said her hard work was really just a way to mask depression.

Her life, as she describes it in her new book "Yoga for Depression," was like the color gray. She felt numb -- some mornings it was as if her head carried "a layer of batting" between her brain and cranium. This despite psychotherapy and use of antidepressants.

Then Weintraub took her first yoga class at Kripalu Center in Lenox, Mass., and she felt better. She followed that up with a rest and renewal program at Kripalu, then began doing yoga to an audio tape when she got home.

After about a year of yoga and a switch in psychiatrists, Weintraub was slowly weaned from her antidepressants. That was in 1989 and she has not taken any since.

Weintraub writes about her experience and the effects of yoga on other depressives in her book. She also has done research on the limited amount of scientific work available. She'll talk on the subject and lead some yoga breathing exercises in appearances in the area April 2-4. She also will do book signings.

Her experience comes with caveats. Do NOT follow her example and drop your antidepressives without consultation with your doctor.

"I've known people who've done that and relapsed," said Weintraub, who now lives and teaches yoga in Tucson. " It's important to move cautiously, over several months, not weeks. Take your meds and do your yoga practice.

"It's really about listening to your body, trusting your doctor and taking baby steps to establishing positive mental health."

Weintraub says yoga releases feel-good hormones such as oxytocin, creating an instant effect if you concentrate both on the physical poses and the breathing exercises.

AMY WEINTRAUB'S SCHEDULE Lawrenceville: 7:30 p.m. April 2 and 3 to 6 p.m. April 4, lectures on breathing and book signings, Schoolhouse Yoga, 41st & Foster streets. $15. Call 412-40-4444 or visit www.schoolhouseyoga.com/ Monroeville: 2 p.m. April 3, workshop at Whole Health Expo, Monroeville. Cost covered by $12 admission to expo. Visit www.wholehealthexpo.com/ Ross: 7 p.m. April 3, talk on breathing and book signing, Borders Books, Northway Mall, 1170 Northway Mall. Free. Call 412-635-7661 Squirrel Hill: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 4, lecture and book signing, Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, 345 Kane Blvd., Scott. Free to members, $5 for non-members. Call 412-278-1975. Reservations suggested.

"If you are not practicing with attention to breathing and sensations in your body, you're not getting all the effects," she said. "If you're just doing physical positions, you're getting some benefits, but it's doubled if you pay attention to your breaths."

She said there also is scientific evidence that yoga increases oxygen absorption, carbon dioxide elimination, "bringing building blocks for neurotransmitters to the brain." Serotonin, another feel-good chemical, is one such neurotransmitter.

Psychiatrists are open to the use of yoga for the treatment of depression, though in most cases not exclusively.

"Is there room for yoga? Of course," said Frank Ghinassi, chief of adult psychiatric services at Western Psychiatric Services at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.

"It's sort of like asking if there is room for chocolate cake. Of course, but not three meals a day, seven days a week.

"Yoga can for some be one of those components [of treatment] because now after 50 years of research of the complex biologic and genetic parts of mood disorders, we don't want to recommend anyone short-change themselves in medical help and professional care.

"You want to use all your resources. One of the most important is to see a professional and use what science has given you."

Dr. Ronald Glick, a psychiatrist who serves as medical director for the Center for Complementary Medicine at UPMC Shadyside, has an even more liberal view about the use of yoga.

"We've seen people do very well with problems related to anxiety and depression with yoga," he said. "It seems like with folks experiencing a fair amount of stress in their life, yoga is a way to manage."

Yoga is a natural option to explore in patients with unipolar depression who have partial or no response to antidepressants, he said. So are biofeedback training and diet supplements.

But people with bipolar, or manic-depressive, disease won't be able to go without medication, Glick emphasized.

"Psychiatry is uniform in saying they should be on a lifelong mood stabilizer with maybe an antidepressant."

(Pohla Smith can be reached at psmith@post-gazette.com or 412 263-1228.)