The hot Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen has not been a stranger to anxiety and panic attacks. In a tell-all interview on her mental health issues with Jay Shetty, she revealed the true nature of her mental health issues including anxiety. She also discussed the struggle she went through in trying to overcome these issues. She mentions that it came to a point where no doctor could help her.
Panic Attacks and Depression
Gisele Bündchen reveals that in her 20s she experienced panic attacks. She also experienced depression. She says, “I didn’t really know what was really wrong with me. I looked at my life and everything was I was like everything was perfect but I was feeling depressed. I developed a very intense anxiety for like over a year and was dealing with it and meditation just came in to my life then.
Doctors could not help
In the interview she reveals that she went to every doctor to deal with everything she was going through. Nothing really worked for her.
Started by practicing Yoga
She says that it actually wasn’t meditation that she started with. Her experience with meditation began with Yoga. One of the biggest misconceptions about Yoga is that yoga is about physical fitness.
Gisele Bündchen mentions in the interview, “It was actually yoga at first and I started practicing yoga at first. Because I was having depression and these panic attacks, I shared with the teacher. She (her teacher) said that actually the best thing for you should be to start with pranayama with alternate nostril breathing to help you back in to your body and get in to your center and then we do in to some meditation and then do asanas.“
Her routine involved 15 minutes of pranayama, which is breath control, 15 minutes of meditation, and 30 minutes of yoga asanas.
Meditation has helped Gisele Bündchen
Gisele talks about her experience and the role that meditation has played in her life in the interview. She says, “We go through life and we go through different challenges. We acquire different tools to deal with them. Meditation was one of the precious tools that I acquired that helped me.“
2-3 Months of Daily Practice Improved things
Gisele Bündchen in the interview says that she did not have any other option. She says everything requires focus, dedication and commitment especially if you want to achieve something. She felt that her only option was to commit herself to the daily practice of meditation. Her only other option was to (almost die) while dealing with anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. Meditation has now become an essential part of her life. She saw a lot of improvement after 2-3 months of regular practice. Today she can’t live without it.
Motherhood and Rebirth
Gisele Bündchen says that when you become a mother, its essentially a rebirth. She says, “your time is no longer yours. When you have kids it becomes all about a ball of love and you don’t sleep.” She says that once you become a mother it becomes even more important to take care of youself. She says in the interview, “if you glass is empty, how will anyone else drink from it”
Meditation and Yoga Asanas Before Sunrise
She wakes up at 4 AM and meditates for 20 mins. She does yoga asanas usually before sunrise. She says, “then I just look at the sun rising and I just take in that energy“. It’s followed with gratitude for another day of being here. According to her it gives her a lot of energy. It helps nourish herself so that she can give to her children, her dogs, her husband, her family and everyone who she wants to share her love with.
Pranayama + Meditation + Asanas
Gisele Bündchen says that Pranayama, Meditation, Asanas says are the tools that she feels is something she’s never going to give up. She’s done this for 20 years. What starts almost 20 years ago are tools that are very much part of her life. They are very essential for her sanity. These are tools that she uses a lot and is grateful that she has them.
Mental health is a major concern especially in the uncertain times that we live in. Anxiety, panic, depression can seep in to our life often quite covertly. Gisele Bündchen also had panic attacks, anxiety when everything in her life was fine. Since 2001 she has been the highest paid models on the planet. Despite the success there were mental health issues.
Gisele has practiced Yoga now consistently for 20 years and you can see the benefits. There are many scientific studies now that talk about the positive impact of pranayama, yoga, and meditation on mental health. Making it a part of your daily wellness routine can not just help you keep your sanity as it did for Gisele, it can also help you thrive and better overcome challenges.
Featured image source: instagram.com/gisele/
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