But, Have You Tried Yoga?

It’s funny because it’s true—and it lands because so many people navigating mental health challenges have heard some version of this advice delivered with total confidence and very little curiosity.

Yoga, meditation, gratitude journals, deep breathing, bubble baths, going for a walk—these suggestions aren’t inherently bad. In fact, many of them can be helpful tools. The problem isn’t the suggestion itself; it’s the way these ideas are often offered as universal solutions to complex, deeply personal struggles. When someone is dealing with anxiety, depression, burnout, trauma, or chronic stress, being told to “just try yoga” can feel less like support and more like dismissal.

Mental health challenges are not a lack of stretching, fresh air, or positive thinking. They are shaped by biology, environment, trauma, finances, relationships, workload, identity, and access to resources.

When someone opens up about struggling and receives a breezy wellness tip in response, the unspoken message can be: If this were serious, my advice would be more serious.  That can shut people down fast.

There’s also an imbalance baked into these suggestions. Many wellness recommendations assume time, money, energy, and safety—things not everyone has. Telling a single parent working two jobs to “prioritize self-care” or someone in survival mode to “set better boundaries” ignores the realities they’re navigating. It subtly shifts responsibility onto the person who is already overwhelmed, implying that if they’re still struggling, they simply haven’t tried hard enough.

Humour, like the kind in this image, becomes a coping mechanism—and a quiet protest. It allows people to say, “I’ve done the obvious things. I’m not lazy or resistant. I’m actually dealing with something bigger.” Laughter creates connection, but it also highlights a gap in how we talk about mental health: we often reach for tidy answers because sitting with someone’s discomfort is harder.

What’s more helpful than suggesting yoga? Listening. Asking questions. Saying, “That sounds exhausting,” or “I don’t have a solution, but I’m here with you.” Support doesn’t require fixing. Sometimes it just means acknowledging that the struggle makes sense given the circumstances.

For professionals and well-meaning loved ones alike, the goal shouldn’t be to offer the right tip, but to offer respect. Mental health isn’t a checklist of lifestyle hacks; it’s an ongoing, nonlinear process. Yoga might be part of someone’s toolkit—or it might not. Either way, people deserve responses that honour the complexity of what they’re facing.

So yes, thank you. We’ve tried yoga. Now let’s try empathy, structural support, better access to care, and conversations that don’t shrink real pain into a wellness soundbite.

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