Yoga is a disciplined Hindu exercise routine that focuses on breathing, posture, and mindfulness. The practice of yoga was initially founded in ancient India and is a part of Hindu religious practices. It has grown in popularity and is now practiced by a large population of people searching for health and mental peace.
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. Here are just a few of them.
- It improves your body’s 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.
- It helps build 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.
- It improves your posture.
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.
- It improves the overall health of your bones.
Yoga can help improve your bone strength and health and prevent breaks or fractures.
- It regulates the circulation of your blood flow.
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.
- It lowers stress levels.
Yoga brings you mental peace by helping you manage your stress levels through deep breathing exercises and practiced mindfulness.
- It helps maintain your blood pressure.
Regular yoga practice has been found to be very beneficial in maintaining your body’s blood pressure.
- It helps in regulating your adrenal glands.
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.
If you would like to move your body more and get healthier overall, contact me to book a free discovery session so we can discuss your overall health goals.