Incorporating yoga into your life provides several key advantages for both your mind and body. There are a number of reasons why joining a yoga class could improve your life emotionally, mentally, and physically. Research indicates that you can use yoga to boost your mental and physical health and wellbeing. It’s an effective, safe, and an excellent way to improve your balance, flexibility, strength, and more.
Reduces Stress Level
Many of the gentle poses and breathing exercises you do during yoga helps your breathing rate to slow and your muscles to relax. Taking a few minutes out of your day and doing some yoga may help you deal with stress and anxiety more easily. Regular yoga sessions will boost your mood as well, particularly if you are feeling down. Yoga’s combination of movement, meditation, and breathing creates an overall sense of wellbeing. In fact, studies suggest that it has a more significant impact on reducing anxiety and enhancing mood as compared to other forms of exercise. The reason behind it is that yoga boosts levels of the brain chemical known as GABA, which is responsible for calming nerves.
Helps in the Attainment of Balance and Harmony
Yoga is an excellent way to keep your body toned both inside and out. It helps in the attainment of balance and harmony and works on your sense of position in space. Practicing postures that focus on balance and standing can help build strength and confidence. Your sense of balance declines if you get more sedentary. Yoga increases muscle movement and, in this way, it helps counteract this. Better balance means a much lower chance of falling, which can be particularly helpful for aged people.
Breathing exercises help harmonize the right and left hemispheres of the brain, which correlate to the emotional and logical sides of the personality, creating balance within the mind too. Last but not least, yoga can also improve your posture by engaging your core muscles, so you can stand more upright.
Increases Flexibility and Muscle Strength
Yoga is based off of strengthening poses and measured movements that can help you achieve better flexibility and strength as you age. Not only do yoga exercises loosen tight muscles in addition to adding balance, flexibility, and stability, but you will also see pains and aches disappear as your muscles relax and heal. Research indicates that yoga can reduce mobility problems and pain in people with osteoarthritis in their knees. This is because the postures of yoga help you strengthen your muscles in your legs and the tissue that surrounds your knee joints.
Yoga can be practiced on its own or in conjunction with other exercises. What’s so great about it is that it’s not geared toward a specific age group. It is universally available to everyone. The yoga poses can be easily modified for different skill levels or if someone has a condition or injury. A willingness to show up is all you need to start a yoga practice.
Photos by: Eternal Happiness, Elly Fairytale, zen bear yoga, Cliff Booth