The Best Lifestyle & Health Benefits Of Yoga, Whether You're A Beginner Or Zen Master
Yoga can change your life!
by Yannic Läderach on Unsplash A yoga practice is a great away to detach from the environment and focus on your mental, emotional, and physical well being.
In this day and age, yoga has become a popular relaxation technique — but what you might not know is that there are some pretty amazing health benefits of yoga.
Yoga requires one to work under a trained yoga teacher who will train you on the various postures. With time, you will be able to perform the postures without much help.
Yoga works on your mental, physical and emotional aspects, thus when you start, a lot of changes will happen.
Some of the best lifestyle and health benefits of yoga include:
1. Yoga reduces stress and exhaustion
For people who have hectic lives, yoga will help in melting the stress away, leaving you feeling energized and peaceful. It lowers cortisol levels, which is a major cause of stress.
If you have a tiring day in the office, try some breathing yoga techniques when you get home. You will be surprised how effective they are in dealing with the exhaustion. You won’t even remember how exhausted you were. It works similarly if you are anxious.
2. Yoga strengthens your immunity
Yoga practice touches the body, mind, and spirit. The three are the key makers of the entire body. If one of them is not functioning properly, then the rest of the body is affected.
Yoga keeps them all in check ensuring that they all function as they should, improving your immunity in the process. In breast cancer patients, studies showed yoga reduced post-operative stress and improved the overall quality of life, thus making it easier to recover after surgery.
3. Yoga increases your focus
Yoga basically trains your mind, body, and soul to stay focused on a particular point. Each posture is unique and requires lots of focus not to topple over.
Once you master this art, even focusing on other areas of your life becomes easier.
You will no longer have those moments when you are in a very serious meeting but your mind is out shopping at the biggest mall in town. Or when your partner is telling you something really important, but you end up not hearing anything and they get mad at you later on.
You will become a happier you since even those beautiful moments, that might have otherwise passed you, will be revealed.
4. Yoga helps with weight loss
If you've been struggling with excess weight, once you start yoga, you'll realize that it reduces little by little to the required weight. This is because yoga makes you aware of everything around you.
It especially makes you sensitive to the kind of food that you are feeding your body. Goodbye junk food. Since yoga reduces stress and anxiety, the likelihood of binge/stress eating is minimized.
5. Yoga strengthens your relationships
Yoga helps you become a happy, contented and peaceful person. With such a combination, getting along with people becomes much easier.
It helps you relate with people well and whenever you feel a little overwhelmed by everything; some yoga will help calm your mind down.
6. Yoga boosts your energy
Ask anybody who has ever practiced yoga and they will tell you that you become more energetic with regular yoga practices.
After building flexibility and balance, more strength is gained as you advance through the various postures.
7. You'll have reduced pain levels
If you have been suffering from pain, then yoga will help you manage it. There are various yoga postures that work to reduce pain in a particular part of your body e.g. lower back pain.
It works by drifting your mind away from the pain to another point. As such, you are able to cope with the pain wit much ease.
For a long time, yoga has been used in dealing with pain from cancer and by people with conditions such as osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia. In addition to the improved immunity, the healing process becomes faster and easier.
Yoga should not be used as a onetime thing, but rather as an everyday thing. Practice some more, and with time, you will not only be able to reap the health benefits but also become a zen master!.
It will help bring out the best in you and boost your confidence. For those with an underlying medical condition, consult your doctor on which yoga postures are safe for you.
Lastly, remember you only live once, so make it count. Be happy. Nothing is ever that serious.
Editor's note: do not substitute medication with yoga unless you have discussed with your doctor.
Donna Begg is an expert editor, a mentor, analyst, and researcher.