Yoga and other meditative therapies should be used more widely to treat NHS patients, it has been claimed.

Allowing GPs to prescribe a course of yoga or some other meditation to patients, perhaps in bamboo yoga wear, could help to slash the financial burden of depression, according to the Mental Health Foundation.

Dr Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the foundation, suggests that "mindfulness-based therapy" could prevent thousands from relapsing into depression every year.

He said: "Depression tends to come back for many people, with the odds of further bouts increasing each time.

"A single episode is serious enough but having the illness return year after year can have a devastating impact on people's jobs, relationships, and their chances in life generally."

Yoga expert Amy Weintraub believes that depression contributes to people losing connection with who they really are. She claims that yoga can help to reconnect people with themselves.

Posted by Tina Wilson ADNFCR-2569-ID-19541889-ADNFCR

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