I have been reading the benefits of Yoga for days now. There are so many. Just like anything else, please be sure to do your own research to find other benefits and to see if this may be the right fit for you. I hope that by making yoga part of your every day routine, you will learn to make health conscious choices so that you can live a better quality life. Below, I have listed the benefits of practicing yoga. Benefits
LEARN TO BREATHE Breathing is obviously something we do naturally and instinctively but who would have thought there would be a better way to do it? There are plenty of great breathing techniques in and outside of yoga. Here’s how yoga can help. The kind of breathing that yoga teaches emphasizes control through certain exercise styles and technique. By learning this new way of breathing, it can help keep your lungs and heart healthy. Conscious breathing carries oxygen throughout the body, improving blood circulation. This exercise is known to lower your respiratory rate because you are consuming less oxygen than in normal exercise, making the lungs and generally the rest of the body work more efficiently. MAINTAIN HEALTHY JOINTS In my experience as a health care provider, I have learned that as we age, our joints feel the wrath of life. Being a massage therapist, I know what I’ve put my joints through and I would like to keep them as healthy as possible. Yoga can help. Slow and steady yoga movements and poses with minimal pressure to the joints are a great way to relieve joint pain. Yoga is a total body exercise. It can help to alleviate muscle tightness and reduce the tension on the tendons that may have been straining the joint. When muscles are weak, they rely on the joints for backup and support. Range of motion for joints is measured in degrees. Each joint or set of joints has a range that it can move within. For example, your back or lumber spine can only move so far backward of forward. Yoga can help increase these numbers so you can get back to doing the things that we may take for granted like bending over to pick up something. Movement, keeps joints healthy. BUILD STRENGTH: I have seen some of the strongest men and women walking out of a yoga class. They look stronger and healthier than some of the gym rats I encounter. I had a friend start posting her yoga exercises to her personal Instagram. After a few months, she had the most visible upper body strength that I’ve seen. Some yoga poses were especially intended for building strength and toning muscles. For the most part, you are expected to use and be able to bear your own body weight to gain strength. Holding these poses through the required breathing helps build muscular strength. Some have experienced more than upper body strength. Others have gained endurance and experienced weight loss. You can use this practice to strengthen your core. When your body has a strong core, it can help support your back. When your back has support, it can aide in better posture for the entire spine. This can help rehabilitate or even lower the risk of injury. A strong core can improve other athletic skills; so if you’re already an athlete, this would be a great way to cross train. REDUCE STRESS There are so many ways to decrease stress levels. Instead of picking up the bottle of wine, pick up a yoga class. If you haven’t tried yoga yet, does it look hard to you? Starting off, it definitely can be. Practice makes perfect. Yoga demands that all of your attention be focused on the present. That means for the time being, the other stressors in your life are not of priority. Let your troubles melt away. By staying present, you learn not to obsess over your problems so that you may begin to see from a new point of view. Just like a good massage, you should leave yoga class feeling less stressed than when you walked in. Sounds impossible but when you’re tired of trying things that aren’t working, yoga will still be there waiting for you. ENHANCE FLEXIBILITY I wouldn’t call myself super flexible but I’m pretty limber. I’ve never been able to do the splits or anything but that has always been a goal of mine. Just seeing some of the yoga poses, I can tell that they would help me reach my goal if I practice regularly. Movement and stretching can help you become more flexible. Everyone knows that as we become older, most things start to decrease. This would include flexibility. People who sit at a desk for most of the day will more than likely lose mobility in the low back and shorten the hip flexor muscles. Let’s keep everything moving for as long as we can. Yoga can help delay or regress this process. I understand some of the poses can sometimes look and seem impossible to do but keep in mind, this new practice and regimen doesn’t have to be done all day, every day to achieve your flexibility goals. Just a few minutes during the day should help you feel the difference you’re looking for. IMPROVE BALANCE: When I first started in the medical field, I worked in post-operative rehab. Most older patients exhibited a loss of balance before surgery and even more declined post surgery. Balance is one of those things that we sometimes take for granted because we’ve been good since we’ve learned to walk. Normal balance depends on a few things with muscle movement being one of them. The body works with the brain to create a sense of balance that holds us in a desired position. In yoga, you will learn to have control over your body and the muscles that keep you in balance. For example, standing on one leg can help to strengthen your core for better posture and strengthen the muscles in the lower extremity. PREVENT PAIN: No on likes to be in pain and as a massage therapist, I get asked this question often: How do I get rid of this pain? I’m no doctor and I can treat or diagnose. However, I can recommend stretches and tell you what I do to get out of pain. Yoga! You can build a higher pain tolerance when practicing yoga. In some instances, you can get rid of pain. Those who sit at a desk may experience back pain. Stretching the low back and hip muscles could lessen this pain or take it away completely. DEVELOP A SENSE OF CALMNESS: Not many other exercises and practices can offer a mind-body connection experience quite like yoga. Breathing coupled with body movement, you learn to focus your mind which can take you to a place of calm, peace, and serenity. If you’ve ever meditated, you know what I’m talking about. During your continued practice of yoga, you’ll learn what its like to concentrate in such depth on what your body is doing. This can result in a balance of hormones creating a more positive outlook. Yoga will introduce you to different meditation techniques that can help clear the mind of anxiety and create mindfulness. If you’ve ever had a calm mind, you know the levels of energy it can bring into your life. Are You Ready To Get Started?
Yoga can be learned at home if you're too shy to attend a class right now. I completely understand and went through the same thing. You'll sit in the back of the class wondering if you're doing it right. Or asking yourself how can that lady over 60 stretch her legs like that? Yoga, that's how! As much as I like the convenience of learning from home on my big screen, I do highly recommend taking a class from a certified instructor. You can do this in a group setting or find someone that offers private lessons. This way, you'll know if you're practicing correctly and safely. Still just prefer to practice yoga at home? No worries, I've put together a list of apps and YouTube channels to get you started. You can find them here.
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