You can improve your mood, flexibility, and stress levels easily. How? Simple really. Regular yoga practice is not only about finding and maintaining that balance in one’s life, it’s also a great way to improve your general sense of well being and health.
Here are just a few good reasons to add yoga to your fitness regime:
Better Posture
When you’re stronger and more flexible, your posture improves. Most standing and sitting poses develop core strength since you need your core muscles to support and maintain each pose. With a stronger core, you’re more likely to sit and stand “tall.”
Yoga helps your body awareness. That helps you notice more quickly if you’re slouching or slumping, so you can adjust your posture. It is important as you age that you maintain good posture and, best of all, your yoga practice will improve each time you practice. It is one of the few sports where you can practice well into your mature years and get better and better at it.
Breathing Benefits
Yoga usually involves paying attention to your breath, which can help you relax. It may also call for specific breathing techniques.
Understanding your breath and being able to manage your breath can greatly assist you to manage stress better in your day-to-day life.
Less Stress, Calmer, More Sleep
You may feel less stressed and more relaxed after doing some yoga. Some yoga styles use meditation techniques that help calm the mind. Focusing on your breathing during yoga can do that, too. Even hot or power yoga will leave you feeling good and many report feeling calm but energized after a yoga flow or hot yoga experience (1). One thing is for certain, you will sleep better the more you practice!
Good for Your Heart
Yoga has long been known to lower blood pressure and slow heart rate. A slower heart rate can benefit people with high blood pressure or heart disease, and people who’ve had a stroke.
Yoga has also been linked to lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and better immune system function.
Improved Flexibility
Studies have shown that you are able to improve your flexibility by up to 35% after only eight weeks of yoga. This is very beneficial for a variety of reasons.
Apart from the fact it helps to be able to move easily, it improves your sexual performance, it also helps high-performance athletes who restrict their flexibility due to muscle shortening activities. So cyclists and runners would find yoga a very good counterpart to exercise to their regular routines.
Bottom line
Remember, your yoga practice will also only be as good as the teacher and studio you join. Ensure that your teachers are qualified with a local body and reputable. While it is safe, you will get the best benefits out of it, with properly trained and qualified teachers who teach you the correct positions, poses, and breathing techniques.
