7 Reasons To Start Yoga Today

Physical Benefits of Yoga: Ways Your Practice Can Improve Your Life

You are at the gym, sweating it out, lifting weights, spending hours on the treadmill to lose those extra pounds. It can be pretty exhausting and discouraging because of the amount of stress and strain experienced by your body. As a result, a week of quitting the gym and those love handles are back on your waist, leaving you demotivated. Can there be an all-encompassing exercise which is less punishing and does not involve gym equipment?
Yes! yoga is the perfect choice for all. Yoga is much more than just exercise, it is a mindful practice if you will. A way of living, yoga combines controlled body movement and breathing, helping you channel your physical and mental energy. As a result, it comes with its own set of health benefits, which helps in improving a person’s quality of life. Some of the benefits of practicing yoga with the basic yoga accessories that might motivate you to take it up today are:

1. Improved flexibility

   It is the first and the most obvious health benefit of practicing yoga. As a beginner, you might find it difficult to touch your toes on the first day, but it only gets easier if you stick to it. Yoga helps in gradually loosening of joints and muscles, letting you perform difficult yoga postures with ease. As a result, you might experience decreased pain in your joints and increased relief from back pain.

2. Better body posture

   Once your body becomes flexible, you achieve a better sense of balance. Practicing yoga daily can help you improve body posture. It takes much less work for an erect spine and back muscles to balance our skull. Maintaining bad posture for more than 12 hours a day can develop a slouch in your back, making you feel fatigued. As a result, the flattened inward curves near the neck and lower back can cause pain and develop into degenerative spinal arthritis. Hence, the importance of proper body posture cannot be ignored. Yoga has proven to be one of the best ways for neck pain treatments and building an improved body posture. However, it is important to practice yoga with caution to avoid mistakes. While striving for flexibility and balance, be mindful of overstretching or pushing too hard, as this can lead to injuries or strain. By practicing yoga mindfully and seeking proper guidance, you can avoid such practice mistakes and reap the full benefits for your body posture and overall well-being.

3. Stronger core muscles

   A strong core keeps your spine aligned and supported, aiding to attain a better posture. Practicing yoga requires using a large and different set of muscles. Almost every yoga posture activates your core muscles. From Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskar) to Warrior Pose (Virabhadrasana), yoga helps in strengthening the core muscles and reduce the cause of muscle pain in your abs, trunk, shoulder girdle, and hips.

4. Increased bone strength and cardiovascular fitness

   As you are doing your high lunges, planks, and down dog split (Eka Pada Mukha Svanasana), you are putting your body through an all-encompassing body weight strengthening workout. These calisthenics type exercises stimulate and remodel bone growth, making them strong. Yoga is a slower-paced exercise than running. However, as per the heart research experts, there are yoga poses that can elevate the heart rate, which can improve cardiovascular fitness.

Explore the Powerful Mental Benefits of Yoga

While we are mostly aware of the physical health benefits, Yoga can also help us achieve a better mental state. Listed below are some mental health benefits of yoga:

1. Better sleep pattern
   

   Excessive brain stimulation is not good for the nervous system. It can add to the stress and disturb your sleep. You can use yoga for sleep and as a means to escape from the hustle and bustle of modern life. A guided form of mediation, restorative pose (asana), pranayama, yoga nidra, and Savasana among others encourage better sleep by providing downtime for the nervous system.

2. Improved awareness
   

   Yoga involves both physical and metal form of meditation. It makes you more aware, helping you break free from destructive emotions such as anger. Yoga encourages a feeling of compassion and helps you connect with your inner self as it calms your mind and nervous system. Moreover, combining yoga and wine retreats can offer a unique and indulgent experience, allowing participants to unwind, savor the flavors, and find harmony between body and mind in serene and picturesque settings.

3. Improved self-esteem and reduced anxiety
   

   A study suggests that yoga poses like the Mountain Pose (Tadasana), the Eagle Pose (Garudasana), and Upward Salutation (Urdhava Hastasana) make you feel more energetic and empowered, while reducing the effect of stress on the body. This directly affects your confidence levels and feeling of self-satisfaction. Researchers believe practicing these poses or taking therapy for anxiety disorder can improve the feedback of the body to its parasympathetic nervous system, which regulates the body’s unconscious actions. Apart from therapy for anxiety disorder, controlled breathing and focusing on the same can make you feel less anxious. As yoga is a mindful practice, it helps our body release endorphins, which helps to boost our mood. Overall, Yoga reduces anxiety by promoting relaxation, mindfulness, and deep breathing techniques, calming the nervous system and fostering a sense of inner peace.

Conclusion

In conclusion, yoga offers a holistic approach to physical and mental well-being. Its numerous health benefits, such as improved flexibility, posture, core strength, bone health, cardiovascular fitness, better sleep, increased self-awareness, and reduced anxiety, make it a rewarding and sustainable exercise choice. Embrace yoga today with the yoga starter packs for beginners and experience its transformative effects on your overall quality of life.

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