STRESS
RELIEF: Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress
on the body. By encouraging relaxation, yoga helps to lower
the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Related benefits
include lowering blood pressure and heart rate, improving
digestion and boosting the immune system as well as easing
symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue,
asthma and insomnia.
PAIN
RELIEF: Yoga can ease pain. Studies have demonstrated
that practicing yoga asanas (postures), meditation or a combination
of the two, reduced pain for people with conditions such as
cancer, multiple sclerosis, auto-immune diseases and hypertension
as well as arthritis, back and neck pain, and other chronic
conditions. Some practitioners report that even emotional
pain can be eased through the practice of yoga.
BETTER
BREATHING: Yoga teaches people to take slower, deeper
breaths. This helps to improve lung function, trigger the
body’s relaxation response and increase the amount of
oxygen available to the body.
FLEXIBILITY:
Yoga helps to improve flexibility and mobility, increasing
range of movement and reducing aches and pains. Many people
can’t touch their toes during their first yoga class.
Gradually they begin to use the correct muscles. Over time,
the ligaments, tendons and muscles lengthen, increasing elasticity,
making more poses possible. Yoga also helps to improve body
alignment resulting in better posture and helping to relieve
back, neck, joint and muscle problems.
INCREASED
STRENGTH: Yoga asanas (postures) use every muscle
in the body, helping to increase strength literally from head
to toe. And, while these postures strengthen the body, they
also provide an additional benefit of helping to relieve muscular
tension.
WEIGHT
MANAGEMENT: Yoga (even less vigorous styles) can
aid weight control efforts by reducing the cortisol levels
as well as by burning excess calories and reducing stress.
Yoga also encourages healthy eating habits and provides a
heightened sense of well being and self esteem.
IMPROVED
CIRCULATION: Yoga helps to improve circulation and,
as a result of various poses, more efficiently moves oxygenated
blood to the body’s cells.
CARDIOVASCULAR
CONDITIONING: Even gentle yoga practice can provide
cardio- vascular benefits by lowering resting heart rate,
increasing endurance and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.
FOCUS
ON THE PRESENT: Yoga helps us to focus on the present,
to become more aware and to help create mind body health.
It opens the way to improved concentration, coordi- nation,
reaction time and memory.
INNER PEACE: The meditative aspects of yoga
help many to reach a deeper, more spiritual and more satisfying
place in their lives. Many who begin to practice for other
reasons have reported this to be a key reason that yoga has
become an essential part of their daily lives.
Source
:Yoga
Alliance |
