Benefits of Yoga
None of the fitness trends have gained as much popularity as yoga. Yoga is believed to be originated in India thousands of years ago and has now been adopted and practiced by people all over the globe. Its popularity is still increasing day by day as more people are opting for yoga because of all the right reasons. There are numerous benefits of yoga that are backed by science and are proven through research.
What is Yoga?
The word “yoga” is derived from the Sanskrit word “Yuji,” which translates to yoke or union, as it brings harmony between mental and physical wellbeing. Yoga is a form of physical and mental training while keeping the focus on one’s breathing patterns. Yoga is well known for its benefits on emotional health and fitness.
Health Benefits of Yoga
The concept of yoga is clear. It is a way to align your body and your thoughts and create a state of relaxation and reduce stress levels. Here are 7 common positive effects that yoga leaves on your body if you continue it on a regular basis.
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Yoga Improves Your Flexibility
Lack of flexibility can be a cause of many muscular problems. Tightness in any of the muscle groups can cause muscle imbalances and can result in poor posture. Poor flexibility or tight muscles can also be a reason for many painful conditions. If these issues continue for a longer duration, they can even affect your bone and joints alignment, further worsening the condition.
Yoga is an excellent and scientifically proven means to address these issues and help you increase your flexibility. Many yoga poses are aimed to put some muscles groups at a stretched position. Choose an attire that will allow you to stretch with freedom. Check these Outperformer’s High-Waist Body Shaper Wordmark Leggings for women, or these Men's compression wordmark leggings to help you with these yoga poses. Holding these poses while keeping your breathing deep and slow can help relieve the stress in these muscles and increase their flexibility. Enhanced flexibility is one of the most obvious outcomes of yoga and mostly the first benefit that you would gain from it.
Recommended Poses: Child’s pose (aka Balasana), Tree pose (aka Vrksasana), downward facing dog (aka Adho Mukha Svanasana), bridge pose (aka Setu Bandha Sarvangasana), chair pose (aka Utkatasana), cat-cow pose (aka Chakravakasana), and pyramid pose (aka Parsvottanasana).
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Yoga Relieves Your Stress
This is one of the most widely known benefits of yoga and majority of the people start doing yoga because of this specific benefit. Yoga helps relieve your stress levels by multiple mechanisms.
First, it helps you forget your stressful thoughts while putting a focus on your posture and breathing. You can feel the stress leaving your body while keeping all your energies on maintaining a particular posture. This shift in your focus starts a relaxation response by engaging your parasympathetic system and suppressing your sympathetic system (the fight or flight response).
Many studies have also proven that yoga helps lower your cortisol levels. Cortisol is a stress hormone. By keeping your cortisol levels in check, yoga helps you lead a more relaxed and stress-free life.
Some people also include meditation techniques in their yoga regimens, that further help lowers the stress levels. All these factors make yoga one of the best exercise options for stress management.
Recommended Poses: Easy pose (aka sukhasana), seated forward bend (aka Pashchimottanasana), happy baby pose (aka Ananda Balasana), head to knee forward bend, standing forward bend (aka Uttanasana), rabbit pose (aka Sasangasana), corpse pose (aka Shavasana), bridge pose (aka Setu Bandha Sarvangasana), and child’s pose (aka Balasana).
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Yoga Builds Your Muscle Strength
Strength and flexibility go hand in hand. There needs to be a balance in our muscle tone to keep our bodies working optimally.
While striking a strength pose, you put stress on a particular muscle group (agonists) while keeping the opposing group (antagonists) in a relaxed state. These poses can help enhance your strength and endurance if done routinely. To get durable yoga clothes visit Outpeformer’s website.
Recommended Poses: Cobra pose (aka Bhujangasana), boat pose (aka Navasana), plank, forearm plank, half-moon pose (aka Ardha Chandrasana), four-limbed staff pose (aka Chaturanga Dandasana), awkward chair pose (aka Utkatasana), and handstand (aka Adho Mukha Vrksasana).
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Yoga is Good for Your Cardiovascular Health
Exercise and heart health has long been associated with each other. Yoga is a very good form of activity to keep your cardiovascular health optimal while protecting your heart from various diseases. Yoga helps relieve stress, improves blood flow to all parts of the body, and lowers bad cholesterol, which are all contributing factors to heart diseases. Yoga is not only beneficial for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases but is also equally helpful in hindering the progress of these conditions.
Certain yoga poses help you keep your heart rate at aerobic range. Regularly engaging in yoga can help condition your heart and lower your resting blood pressure and pulse rate. These changes are helpful in keeping your heart rate in check under stressful conditions and prevent serious complications.
Recommended Poses: Seated forward bend (aka Pashchimottanasana), half spinal twist (aka Ardha Matsyendrasana), cow face pose (aka Gomukhasana), bridge pose (aka Setu Bandhasana), extended triangle pose (aka Utthita Trikonasana), shoulder stand pose (aka Salamba Sarvangasana), mountain pose (aka Tadasana), and bow pose (aka Dhanurasana).
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Yoga Perfects Your Posture
If we look at the human body, we’ll find out that every body part is connected and any changes in the alignment of one body part can lead to problems in other parts as well. That’s why stress has been placed on maintaining a good posture for a long time. With the technological advancements and changing trends, most of us are bound to spend our working hours on a desk with our eyes glued to computer screens. If our posture is not correct while working for long hours, it can result in neck and back pain.
Yoga can not only help you with keeping a balance between strength and flexibility and keep your spine more aligned, but it also helps you to be more aware of your body position. It helps you recognize incorrect posture easily and allow you to make needed corrections.
Recommended Poses: Shoulder opener, cobra pose (aka Bhujangasana), mountain pose (aka Tadasana), cat-cow stretch (aka Chakravakasana), bridge pose (aka Setu Bandha Sarvangasana), plank pose, cow face arms (aka Gomukhasana), heart bench, and camel pose (aka Ustrasana).
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Yoga Protects Your Joint
More and more people are being affected by painful joint conditions every year. Obesity, age, and muscle weakness are all contributing factors to painful joints or arthritis. Yoga can be a very effective exercise option for people who have arthritis. It puts less stress on your joints and takes your joints through a full range of motion. These gentle and sustained movements help provide nutrition to all parts of the joint and prevent wear and tear of joint surfaces. Yoga can also help relieve the pain and reduce muscle tension.
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Recommended Poses: Warrior pose (aka Virabhadrasana), triangle pose (aka Trikonasana), tree pose (aka Vrksasana), bridge pose (aka Setu Bandha Sarvangasana), side plank on the forearm (aka Vasisthasana), extended side angle pose (aka Utthita Parsvakonasana), and gate pose (aka Parighasana).
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Yoga is for Everyone
If you are looking for a workout routine that is not expensive, easy to perform, does not require any special equipment, is suitable for every age, and is safe to perform, then yoga might be your best option.
It does not require you to join a gym or buy expensive machinery to carry out. You can simply start with some easy poses that are widely available on the internet and work your way through to the master level. There are minimal chances for muscle injuries in yoga as it involves gentle movements and body resistance.
You can start your yoga plan right now. All you’ll need is an athletic attire with good flexibility to keep your motions fluent and free of restrictions. Check out these athleisure leggings and sports bras by Outperformer and choose what best suits your taste.
Some Other Benefits of Yoga
Apart from these 7 reasons that you should opt for yoga as your workout routine, there are some other benefits that are associated with different yoga asanas.
- Yoga alleviates your back pain
- It’s good for your bone health
- It improves your blood circulation
- It can help you fight depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms
- Yoga improves your immunity
- It reduces inflammation
- It helps lower your blood sugar levels
- It’s good for your lungs and relieves asthma symptoms
- It helps you sleep better
- Yoga has a positive effect on your mood
- It boosts your self-esteem
- It improves your balance
- It can help you connect with your community
Bottom Line
Yoga is an inexpensive way to keep your physical and mental health in balance and help you lead a happier and stress-free life.