Yog-Ah Ha!

The Benefits of Yoga

Yoga is a disciplined Hindu exercise routine that focuses on breathing, posture, and mindfulness. The literal meaning of yoga is derived from a Sanskrit word ‘Yuj” which means bind and is interpreted as “union”. It has grown in popularity and is now practiced by a large population of people searching for health and mental peace. According to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra any posture when done with ease and stillness is an Asana.

The main goal of practicing yoga is to attain “moksha,” which means “liberation.” According to many yoga gurus, there are five main goals or elements of yoga. These five main elements are:

Being disciplined toward attaining a goal

Controlling your body movements

Controlling your mind

Connecting with your spiritual self

Attaining the highest level of self-awareness

Yoga provides a lot of benefits to our body, health, and mind.

If you aren’t already encouraged to have a go, read on to find out some of the benefits:

Flexibility:

Yoga can help make you more flexible and agile, especially with regular practice yoga. This flexibility can help prevent injuries or strain and help relieve muscle and nerve pain.

Muscle strength:

With regular practice, yoga can also help build muscle strength and tone. This strengthening of our muscles can also help protect us against pain and various diseases like arthritis.

Posture Correction/Improvement:

Yoga can help improve your posture, preventing backaches and neck pains and strain. Young yoga practitioners have also reported an increase in height due to the improvement in their posture. A straight spine can balance your whole body much more easily than a spine that lacks good posture. Poor posture can cause your body to strain and cause you to feel lazy and tired. It also puts you at higher risk for degenerative arthritis of the spine.

Bone Strength:

Yoga can help improve your bone strength and health and prevent breaks or fractures.

Blood Flow Regulation:

Regular yoga practice can help improve the circulation of your blood flow, especially in your feet and hands. This prevents your body from swelling or becoming inflamed. A healthy and regulated flow of blood in your body encourages overall better health. It also helps provide oxygen to your lungs and regulate the transfer of oxygen to your tissues by boosting the level of red blood cells and hemoglobin in your body. All of this can help reduce your risk of stroke and other forms of heart diseases and illnesses.

Stress Management:

Yoga brings you mental peace by helping you manage your stress levels through deep breathing exercises and practiced mindfulness.

Blood Pressure Management:

Regular yoga practice has been found to be very beneficial in maintaining your body’s blood pressure.

Adrenal Gland Regulation:

Yoga can help lower your cortisol levels, helping to regulate the functioning of your adrenal glands. Healthy adrenal glands can help you in losing weight and maintaining overall health.

Lung Capacity Improvement:

With yoga comes mindful breathing or Pranayama. A regular practice of pranayama helps reduce stress, maintain calmness and homeostasis. By increasing the amount of oxygen taken into body, its believed that pranayama helps purify the blood and increase lung capacity

​Namaste.