Popular around the world, Yoga is a universal health movement. But what is the real purpose of yoga? Well there are 10 big benefits of yoga. Let’s look at the physical and mental benefits that yoga can provide.
While you can select from many forms of yoga, there’s no question that yoga provides a number of benefits to your lifestyle and health.
Do you ever wonder about the real reason for yoga? Yoga is more popular than ever. So many celebrities support yoga, there must see some significant benefits of the practice. Is Yoga at the core of their success?
Today we’ll explore ten big physical and mental benefits that yoga can provide to you if you put some effort into it. There are even apps to help you sign up for a class.
1. Build Strength
Even if you’re a beginner, you’ve probably noticed that some of the harder yoga poses are quite intimidating.
While yoga at the highest level requires tremendous strength. There’s nowhere else to start but at the beginning, continued yoga practice builds body strength — without lifting weights. Everyone starts at the first step.
Increased strength is just one of the top ten benefits of yoga
If you have tried yoga and didn’t go back, don’t give up too soon! Do what you can at the start and stick with it. You’ll soon feel stronger while holding your poses.
2. Finding Balance
As your strength improves, your balance improves, too. Standing on one leg or inverting certain poses builds your core strength. Core strength builds your overall balance.
As you focus, you’ll find it’s easier to hold your balance while posing on one leg. This isn’t paddle boarding, this is real balance building.
If you struggle with balance issues, yoga could be a way to help improve your physical balance.
3. Your Back Pain Relieved
Yoga poses and stretches might appear to be harmful to your back. However, many people who practice yoga and suffer from back pain find that they experience less pain while practicing yoga.
Sitting at a desk or in an office at a computer for hours during the day compresses your spine. You might have low back pain from driving, too.
The effects of sitting too long can be reversed with a steady yoga practice. Starting with the basics you should feel better and relaxed after just a few sessions. As your body responds to consistent stretching in yoga, you’ll feel less tension and pain in your low back.
4. Your Flexibility Is Improved
You don’t need to be flexible to start yoga, yoga helps you become flexible.
The reality is that yoga is one of the best ways to improve overall flexibility. Most yogis or people who have practiced yoga for a long time didn’t start as flexible as you might think.
With age (sorry we have to be real here) or inactivity, your body can experience a loss of flexibility. Bending over or to the side can become more difficult when your flexibility becomes limited.
No matter what your level of flexibility is now, regular yoga practice can improve your everyday flexibility. Improved flexibility helps prevent injury — even when you’re just bending over to grab something off of the floor.
5. Enhance Your Weight Loss, yoga can help you lose weight.
Eating right is always the first place to start with weight loss. After that yoga is a great way to help speed up the process. Hot yoga isn’t the only way to use yoga for weight loss either. Any type of yoga can help strengthen your body and help you lose weight.
Daily yoga practice helps speed up your metabolism regardless of your current fitness level. When your metabolism speeds up, it’s one of the factors to help you burn more calories.
6. Reduce Your Anxiety
Yoga is often chided as a “hippie” practice — love, peace, and yoga.
Yoga isn’t just for hippie chicks or men with man buns. But is there something wrong with love, peace and yoga? Do you enjoy your anxiety more? We didn’t think so.
People who practice yoga are all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds. Reducing anxiety is one of the greatest benefits or regular yoga for many people. In todays busy world, anxiety is the enemy, crush it with yoga.
Daily yoga can help you sleep better. When you sleep better, you feel less anxious. No drugs, no pain killers, just relief naturally.
Controlling your breathing and stretching are both powerful ways to release tension in the body–and mind.
Even in it’s simplest form, a good five-minute session in child’s pose to stretch the low back and breathe slowly can have big benefits to reduce stress and anxiety.
7. Muscle Tone Step Up
Building strength without lifting weights is just one of the benefits of yoga.
Naturally, as you gain strength, your muscles should begin to show more tone and definition. Eating right will play into this though.
Lifting weights isn’t the only way to build the body you want. Holding your muscles in prolonged yoga poses can increase muscle mass and improve definition.
Deadlifts and biceps curls are not the only way to achieve the body you see on TV in those gym commercials. Monica Carroll of HARD yoga started out in fitness and found her stride in yoga.
Yoga is a serious strength and bodybuilding tool without the extra stress on your body. Don’t let the laying on the floor and playing with your feet fool you.
8. Joint Support
Yoga is a low-impact activity. Joints are damaged from high impact activities like running, golf and heavy weightlifting. Yoga is the perfect way to improve joint strength and flexibility.
Aging and poor diet causes joints to lose flexibility. Stiff joints are prone to injury when they lose flexibility. For instance when your knee’s movements become restricted, you increase the possibility of injury during normal daily activity.
Stretching the muscles around your joints through yoga increases flexibility. When your muscles are more flexible, the load on your joints is reduced. Your muscles work harder to carry your weight and move freely.
If you suffer from arthritis or other joint discomforts, try yoga as part of your health plan.
9. Breathe Deeper Naturally
Part of yoga is the study and practice of deep, rhythmic breathing. Deep breathing is beneficial to your body and brining oxygen to your mind.
Controlling your breathing in stressful situations helps you conquer the stress. Yoga can help you to develop a practice of deep breaths for maximum oxygen intake.
10. Your Overall Fitness Upgraded
Overall fitness includes strength, flexibility and spirituality. When you practice yoga, you get a number of benefits. You’ll see an improvement in your overall level of fitness, flexibility and spirituality..
Yoga includes elements of strength training, cardio development, while it also speeds up your metabolism, and helps you think clearer. These benefits are all positive improvements in your fitness — no matter your starting level of fitness.
While there aren’t many single things you can do at the gym, you can practice yoga to achieve as many benefits as you can with consistent yoga practice.
The Real Purpose of Yoga is Your Well-Being
The real reason to start and continue a yoga practice is your well-being. At the end of the day, your well being is the most important thing you have. Helping you be the best you can be is the purpose of yoga.
In order to take advantage of the benefits of yoga you need to start today. Whether you practice at home using an on-demand program, or you schedule time in the studio, it’s always a good time to let yoga work for you.
Contact Monica’s HARD yoga to find the best yoga solution for your needs.