Physical and Mental Benefits of Yoga
The benefits of practising yoga go beyond burning calories and toning muscles. Haven Yoga shares 15 physical and mental benefits gained from the total mind-body workout.
Yoga can help everyone unlock benefits, whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or a professional. The key, first and foremost, to getting anything out of yoga is to be consistent in when you practice. A small session daily is best, but even just regular practice – once every few days, to a week – is optimal.
When you incorporate yoga as part of your routine, here are just some of the benefits you’ll find yourself getting.
Physical Benefits
- Reduces Pain – Relaxation techniques in yoga can lessen chronic pain, especially in the back, neck, and shoulders.
- Lower Blood Pressure – With many forms of stretching included into yoga, blood pressure is reduced as part of its effects on the body.
- Helps Fight Illnesses – With its pain reduction benefits, and effect of low blood pressure, yoga has impacts on insomnia, headaches, and even carpel tunnel syndrome.
- Increased Flexibility – In the last 30 – 40 years, what was once gymnastic warm ups, are now used as some yoga poses to steadily increases the body’s natural flexibility.
- Stronger and Toner Muscles – Using different yoga poses and techniques, all of the major muscle groups of the body can be built up over time, with special focus on the legs, arms, and core.
- Improved Respiration – Breathing exercises are a key part of yoga in order to create balance in the body, going so far as to help build lung capacity.
- Improved Energy and Vitality – Similar to other forms of exercise, yoga releases endorphins into the body, giving back vitality and energy.
- Helps Maintain a Balanced Metabolism – The stretching and relaxing aspects of yoga help the body to digest food at a faster rate. Doing yoga early in the morning can further heighten this.
- Weight Loss – Yoga is a steadier form of exercise when compared to many others, and helps the body to burn excess fats stored over time.
- Improved Athletic Performance – Over the years since its making, yoga has since incorporated a number of sports, exercises, stretches, and muscle building techniques. Yoga has developed into a bodybuilding activity that appeals to all demographics.
Mental Benefits
- Stress Management – Meditation is a core segment of yoga, and helps to promote mindfulness, even after the yoga session is complete.
- Heightened Focus – Stress can produce an inability to concentrate, but with regular meditation as part of yoga, attention can be sharpened.
- Building a Positive Outlook – Mindfulness is a widely acquired trait from consistent yoga practice, helping the mind to focus on the present rather than dwell on the past. This all brings mental clarity to an individual beyond the yoga session.
- Developing Coping Skills and Mechanisms – In times of meditation, it is important to clear the mind. This has helped many people to create a safe space using yoga, both in a physical and mental sense.
- Building Self Satisfaction and Sense of Accomplishment – Yoga is a form of fitness designed to be for all people, regardless of athletic level. It can be used as a tool to develop satisfaction with life and yourself by giving yourself the chance to feel accomplished using little things. You held that pose you tend to struggle with – that’s awesome! You did good today!
It doesn’t matter if you’re doing yoga to get in shape, stay in shape, on a physical or mental level, it has something to offer you. Try yoga today and see what you can get out of it!
