Mental Health Awareness Month: Movement Is Medicine

A Personal Reflection on Mental Health and Movement

Hi, I’m Celeste, founder and teacher at Protea Movement Studio. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and I want to share a few thoughts from both personal experience and my years of guiding yoga and movement practices.

Over the last 15 years, I’ve witnessed—both in my own life and in the lives of my students—the powerful impact that movement, yoga, and breathwork can have on mental health. These practices offer more than just physical benefits. They create space for clarity, healing, and grounding in a world that often feels like too much.

The Challenge of Living in an Information-Overloaded World

We live in a time of constant information overload. Every moment, we’re absorbing something—news, social media, conversations, to-do lists. While it’s amazing that we can know what’s happening in the world at our fingertips, it can also make it incredibly hard to find peace. It becomes difficult to even know what our own thoughts are when we’re constantly bombarded by everyone else’s.

That can lead to anxiety, depression, brain fog, and a sense of being overwhelmed—regardless of who you are. Mental health touches everyone, no matter your age, background, or role in life.

How Movement Creates Space for Healing

But here's what I’ve learned: movement and mindfulness can help.

When we take time to pause through yoga, walking, stretching, or simply breathing with intention, we give our nervous systems a much-needed break. We create a space where we can come back to ourselves—to feel what we feel, without trying to suppress it.

Bringing Your Whole Self Into the Studio

At Protea Movement Studio, we don’t believe in leaving your problems at the door. You’re welcome to bring it all with you—your stress, your sadness, your anxiety, your brain fog. This studio is built to hold it. We are built to hold it.

Some studios may encourage you to “leave your worries outside,” but what happens when class ends and those worries are waiting for you? Our approach is different. We invite you to bring it all in, to move through it, and to breathe with it. This isn’t about perfection—it’s about presence.

Movement Beyond the Studio

And if you can’t make it into the studio, a 10-minute walk outside can still be a powerful practice. Movement helps shift the mind and body, allowing emotions to settle and clarity to rise. I've solved more problems mid-walk than I ever did sitting at a desk.

Your Practice, Your Pace

In class, it’s okay if your energy doesn't match the person next to you. Maybe they’re flying through sun salutations while you’re resting in child's pose—and that’s okay. Your mat is your space. Healing doesn't come from comparison; it comes from compassion, especially self-compassion.

I've cried in child’s pose. I’ve gone into savasana 15 minutes before everyone else. I’ve stayed in pigeon pose longer than the person beside me because my body—and heart—needed it. That’s what yoga is: meeting yourself where you are, without judgment.

Finding Calm in Stillness

Even in stillness, like during a Yoga Nidra practice, the mind might race. You might feel fidgety. That’s okay, too. Healing happens even when it doesn’t look graceful. We teach you to watch your thoughts, not battle them—to let them drift like clouds across the sky, without attaching or reacting.

Sometimes, in the middle of a practice, unexpected clarity comes. Answers arise not because we were actively problem-solving, but because we finally created space for insight to land.

An Invitation to Start Your Healing Journey

So, if you’ve been curious about yoga, barre, or movement classes, May is a beautiful time to begin. Give yourself permission to take a moment—a real moment—for your own healing. Movement is medicine. And you matter.

Mental health matters, always.

We’re here for you. We hope to see you in the studio soon.