Health Benefits of Yoga
Yoga is an ancient practice that brings together the human mind and body. It’s a practice that incorporates meditation, breathing exercises, and poses that are designed to reduce stress and encourage relaxation. Are you looking for reasons to try some yoga? From increased flexibility to strength to heart health, here are the benefits of rolling out that mat.
1. Improves your Flexibility
One of the most obvious benefits of yoga is improved flexibility. When you start attending yoga classes, you will probably not be able to touch your toes. However, if you stick with the practice, you will notice some gradual loosening, and at last, some of the seemingly impossible stretches will now be possible. You will also probably feel that pains and aches start to disappear, which is no coincidence. Tight hips could strain your knee joint because of improper alignment of the shinbones and thighs.
2. Builds Muscle Strength
Strong body muscles help protect us from conditions like back pain and arthritis as well as aid in preventing falls in older adults. If you’re seeking to build strength through yoga, be sure to balance it with flexibility. If you visited the gym and lifted a few weights, you will be building muscle at the expense of your flexibility.
3. Corrects your body posture
When the head is balanced directly over a straight spine, it requires little effort for the back and neck muscles to support it. You move your head some inches forward, and you will start straining those muscles. Holding up the head for eight to twelve hours in a day will cause you to tire. And besides the fatigue, poor posture could also be another problem you will be facing. The frequent stretches incorporated in yoga help in improving your posture by relaxing the tight muscles and joints.
4. Protects your spine
Spinal disks – which are the shock absorbers between the vertebrae and which can compress and herniate nerves – need frequent movement. That is the only way the supply of nutrients gets to them. If you do a well-balanced asana practice with lots of twists, forward bends, and backbends, you will keep your spinal disks supple.
5. Increases blood flow
The yoga practice gets your blood flowing. More concisely, most of the exercises you learn in yoga could aid your circulation, particularly in the feet and hands. Better yet, most of these exercises get more oxygen flowing into your cells, which results in better cell function. Twisting poses are also known to wring out the venous blood from the internal organs and let oxygenated blood trickle in when the twist is released.
6. Helps you focus
An essential aspect of yoga is that it will focus you on the present. Research reveals that continuous yoga practice improves your coordination, memory, reaction time, and IQ scores. People who often practice meditation show the ability not only to solve problems but also recall information better.