What is Yoga?

Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophical traditions. There is a broad variety of yoga schools, practices, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

 

 

 

 

 

10 Really Amazing Health Benefits of Yoga

Benefiting the mind, body, and soul

But following is a brief highlight of some of the reasons you should consider adding yoga to your world. Here are 10 health benefits of yoga.

1. Strength, Agility, and Flexibility are all Increased

Many sports will give you strength. Others will give you more agility, but few practices will increase strength, agility, and flexibility all at once. In my years of teaching, I’ve seen professional athletes overcome injury by increasing their range of motion with yoga, and victims of a double mastectomy regain full mobility after debilitating surgeries that left loads of scar tissue in their bodies. Nothing really compares for repairing the body and making sure that the ligaments and connective tissues are just as strong and pliable as the muscles themselves.

2. Yoga Enhances Memory & Cognitive Functioning

It may seem strange that a practice which involves breathing and stretching can enhance your cognitive functioning, but yogis could really be better at learning, have increased memory capacity, and retain high levels of concentration. Many of these benefits are attributed to meditation – arguably the goal of all yogic practice, but it can also help you at school or on the job by improving your brain functioning.

3. Body Weight Normalizes – More Health Benefits of Yoga

While doing an hour of hatha yoga, or even power yoga won’t likely burn as many calories as doing a high-intensity interval workout, yoga has a way of normalizing body weight by restoring hormonal balance in the body.

By lowering levels of cortisol and our nervous system’s constant fight or flight response, not only are we less likely to overeat, or eat to suppress unpleasant emotions, we also train our brains to feel satiated more easily because we aren’t constantly in panic mode. Stress is known to cause obesity and fuel virtually all disease, and yoga is a perfect countermeasure.

4Yoga Naturally Reduces Pain

There are countless studies proving that yoga can be very effective at relieving pain. It doesn’t matter if you suffer from fibromyalgia, arthritis, or migraine headaches, yoga has been proven to effectively reduce pain from all these ailments. And if you are one of the millions of people that suffer from back pain – yoga can make that pain practically disappear.

Meditation has even been shown to be better than morphine at reducing pain.

5. Respiratory Efficiency Increases

Further adding on to the health benefits of yoga, yoga is one of the few practices that utilizes pranayama – the cultivation of life force or chi through breathing. While many people practice pranayama as a means to obtain higher states of awareness, they also end up having some serious side benefits including increased lung capacity, more tidal volume (the total amount of air your lungs can hold at any one time), and an ability to reduce the pace of their breathing which has been directly linked to a longer lifespan.

6. Blood Pressure is Normalized

Yoga has specific benefits for hyporeactors in blood pressure. For those suffering from hypertension, yoga has been shown to be even more effective than dietary changes for improving blood pressure.

7. Mental Health is Greatly Enhanced

Yoga offers so many benefits in the psychological department it is difficult to name them all in a brief overview, but among them are an improved overall mood and sense of well-being, more connectedness with others, lowered depressive states, less hostility toward the self and others, less anxiety, feelings of self-actualization increase, motivation increases, and more.

8. Yoga Prevents Degenerative Diseases  -The ways in which yoga prevents disease are astounding. When you really understand how, it can be more evidence than you would ever need to take to the yoga mat, stat! Here are just some of the reasons yoga helps to keep you young and healthy longer:

 

• Glucose decreases

• Sodium decreases

• Total cholesterol decreases

• Triglycerides decrease

• HDL cholesterol increases

• LDL cholesterol decreases

• VLDL cholesterol decreases

• Cholinesterase increases

• Catecholamines decrease

• ATPase increases

• Hematocrit increases

• Hemoglobin increases

• Lymphocyte count increases

• Total white blood cell count decreases

• Thyroxin increases

• Bioavailable Vitamin C increases

• Total serum protein increases

• Oxytocin increases

• Prolactin increases

 

9. The Parasympathetic Nervous System Takes over in Yoga

Why is this a good thing? Both the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems work to keep us stabilized in the face of stress. These systems are connected like a see-saw. When one goes up the other goes down. When the sympathetic nervous system is active, it usually means we are on ‘high-alert’ either responding to stress or trying to minimize it.

This is the part of our nervous systems that are most often triggered – from flashing lights, traffic noises, emails from our co-workers or boss, family responsibilities, etc. Yoga strengthens the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system which is primarily responsible for the ‘relaxation response.’

Obviously, you wouldn’t want to constantly be zoned out or lethargic, nor perpetually on high-alert, so yoga helps to put the circular motion, the balance, back into the two nervous system’s dance.

10. You Can Do Yoga Anywhere

Perhaps one of the most convenient health benefits of yoga is that you can experience them just about anywhere. I’ve done yoga in studios, at the airport, in my home, at a friend’s home, in hotel rooms, outdoors in parks and forests, even on top of rocks, or on the rooftops of tall buildings in a busy city. You don’t need anything (except maybe a yoga mat) but even that isn’t really necessary to do yoga.

There are no gym memberships required and no expensive gear. You don’t have to be in shape to start, and it will continue to challenge you even if you are in shape. Yoga is timeless and can be done almost anywhere without a great const or inconvenience.

For even more reasons to practice yoga, visit a class in your area and learn first hand what it can do for you.

Maintaining a regular yoga practice can provide physical and mental health benefits

Learn about the different types of yoga and how it can be used as a tool to help you stay healthy.

Like yoga, the osteopathic approach to wellness focuses on your body’s natural tendency toward health and self-healing.

“The purpose of yoga is to build strength, awareness, and harmony in both the mind and body,” explains Natalie Nevins, DO, a board-certified osteopathic family physician and certified Kundalini Yoga instructor in Hollywood, California.

While there are more than 100 different types, or schools, of yoga, most sessions typically include breathing exercises, meditation, and assuming postures (sometimes called asana or poses) that stretch and flex various muscle groups.

“As an osteopathic physician, I focus a lot of my efforts on preventive medicine and practices, and in the body’s ability to heal itself,” says Dr. Nevins. “Yoga is a great tool for staying healthy because it’s based on similar principles.”

Physical benefits

“The relaxation techniques incorporated in yoga can lessen chronic pain, such as lower back pain, arthritis, headaches, and carpal tunnel syndrome,” explains Dr. Nevins. “Yoga can also lower blood pressure and reduce insomnia.”

Other physical benefits of yoga include:

 

• Increased flexibility

• Increased muscle strength and tone

• Improved respiration, energy and vitality

• Maintaining a balanced metabolism

• Weight reduction

• Cardio and circulatory health

• Improved athletic performance

• Protection from injury

 

Mental benefits

Aside from the physical benefits, one of the best benefits of yoga is how it helps a person manage stress, which is known to have devastating effects on the body and mind. “Stress can reveal itself in many ways, including back or neck pain, sleeping problems, headaches, drug abuse, and an inability to concentrate,” says Dr. Nevins. “Yoga can be very effective in developing coping skills and reaching a more positive outlook on life.”

Yoga’s incorporation of meditation and breathing can help improve a person’s mental well-being. “Regular yoga practice creates mental clarity and calmness; increases body awareness; relieves chronic stress patterns; relaxes the mind; centers attention, and sharpens concentration,” says Dr. Nevins. Body- and self-awareness are particularly beneficial, she adds, “because they can help with early detection of physical problems and allow for early preventive action.”

Beginners welcome

Because there are so many different kinds of yoga practices, it is possible for anyone to start. “Whether you’re a couch potato or a professional athlete, size and fitness levels do not matter because there are modifications for every yoga pose and beginner classes in every style,” says Dr. Nevins. “The idea is to explore your limits, not strive for some pretzel-like perfection. It is a great way to get in tune with your body and your inner self.”​

Is yoga good for anxiety?

Available reviews of a wide range of yoga practices suggest they can reduce the impact of exaggerated stress responses and may be helpful for both anxiety and depression. In this respect, yoga functions like other self-soothing techniques, such as meditation, relaxation, exercise, or even socializing with a friend

How healthy is yoga?

Workout fads come and go, but virtually no other exercise program is as enduring as yoga. It’s been around for more than 5,000 years. Yoga does more than burn calories and tone muscles. It’s a total mind-body workout that combines strengthening and stretching poses with deep breathing and meditation or relaxation

Is yoga a good workout? Workout fads come and go, but virtually no other exercise program is as enduring as yoga. … Yoga does more than burn calories and tone muscles. It’s a total mind-body workout that combines strengthening and stretching poses with deep breathing and meditation or relaxation. There are more than 100 different forms of yoga.

Which yoga is best for depression?    Boost feel-good endorphins with these yoga poses for depression.

• Bound Angle Pose. Baddha Konasana.
• Bridge Pose. Bridge Pose can be whatever you need—energizing, rejuvenating, or luxuriously restorative.
• Corpse Pose. Savasana.
• Dolphin Plank Pose.
• Dolphin Pose.
• Easy Pose. Sukhasana.
• Extended Puppy Pose. …
• Feathered Peacock Pose

Why yoga helps with stress?

Yoga: Fight stress and find serenity. … Yoga is a mind-body practice that combines physical poses, controlled breathing, and meditation or relaxation. Yoga may help reduce stress, lower blood pressure and lower your heart rate. And almost anyone can do it.

Is yoga good for depression?

Yoga is a physical exercise that involves different body poses, breathing techniques, and meditation. The therapy may help with depression and your symptoms, such as difficulty concentrating or loss of energy. Many people use yoga therapy to manage: mental and emotional problems, such as stress, anxiety, or depression.

Does yoga help with anxiety and panic attacks?

Six Yoga Poses to Help with Anxiety and Panic Attacks. “Take a deep breath. … The ancient practice of yoga is made up of three main ingredients: breathing, meditation, and asana (physical postures). Each factor alone has been proven to help relieve anxiety, but combining all three can increase the benefits.

How does yoga help your mental health?

Yoga increases body awareness, relieves stress, reduces muscle tension, strain, and inflammation, sharpens attention and concentration, and calms and centers the nervous system. Yoga’s positive benefits on mental health have made it an important practice tool of psychotherapy (American Psychological Association).

How does sleep reduce stress?

Stress and sleep have a two-way relationship. High stress levels can make sleeping more difficult. They can even lead to sleep disorders. At the same time, getting a good night’s sleep can help reduce the effects of stress.

How does meditation reduce stress?

Meditation May Reduce Stress and Improve Health. A simple technique practiced for as few as 10 minutes per day can help you control stress, decrease anxiety, improve cardiovascular health, and achieve a greater capacity for relaxation.

How do you breathe during a panic attack?

Calming Breath

 

• Take a long, slow breath in through your nose, first filling your lower lungs, then your upper lungs.

• Hold your breath to the count of “three.”

• Exhale slowly through pursed lips, while you relax the muscles in your face, jaw, shoulders, and stomach.

 

How can I reduce stress and sleep?

Tips for lowering stress levels at bedtime

 

• Plan an hour of quiet time before bedtime when you focus on doing activities that promote rest. …

• Make your bed a cue for sleep by moving wakeful activities (e.g., screen time, working, worrying, planning) out of the bed.

• Go to bed only when you are sleepy.

 

What is the relationship between stress and sleep?

The relationship between stress and sleep is a vicious circle. Too much stress, be it regarding financial concerns, health problems or relationships, makes it harder to sleep. A lack of sleep, however, only increases the amount of stress that you feel because your sleep-deprived body churns out more stress hormones.