Benefits Of Yoga

Yoga relaxes mind, body and soul. There are various benefits of yoga, which are as follows:

• Improving flexibility is one the most common and obvious benefit of yoga which everyone is aware about. Initially, it is impossible to do some yoga postures but gradually the impossible ones become possible. It also helps to reduce aches and pains. Inflexibility in muscles and connective tissue, can cause poor posture.

• It helps to build strong muscles, they protect individuals from conditions like arthritis and back pain. Strength built through yoga maintains a balance with flexibility, however going to gym and building strength is on the cost of flexibility.

• Head when balanced directly over an erect spine, takes much less work for neck and back muscles to support it. Moving it several inches ahead, keeping it for long in that position makes people tired. Poor posture causes back, neck, and other muscle and joint problems.

• Weight-bearing exercise strengthens bones and helps ward off osteoporosis. Many postures in yoga require that you lift your own weight, some help strengthen the arm bones.

• Yoga gets your blood flowing. The relaxation exercises in yoga can help circulation, in hands and feet. Yoga also gets more oxygen to your cells, which function better as a result. It also helps to boost immunity.

• Yoga asanas reduces the risk of heart attack and relieves depression. Studies have found that yoga practice lowers the resting heart rate, increases endurance, and can improve your maximum uptake of oxygen during exercise. Blood pressure can be formulated. An individual with high blood pressure can be benefitted from yoga.

• Yoga benefits people a lot, it helps individuals to feel light and happy, it reduces depression. At the University of Wisconsin, Richard Davidson, Ph.D., found that the left prefrontal cortex showed heightened activity in meditators, a finding that has been correlated with greater levels of happiness and better immune function.

• It helps to live a healthy lifestyle. A regular practice gets you moving and burns calories, and helps to address eating and weight problems on a deeper level. Yoga may also inspire you to become a more conscious eater.

• People with diabetes should do yoga on a regular basis as it helps to lower blood sugar levels by lowering cortisol and adrenaline levels, encouraging weight loss, and improving sensitivity to the effects of insulin.

• An important component of yoga is it helps to focus on the present. Studies have found that regular yoga practice improves coordination, reaction time and memory.

• Yoga can provide relief to people, and provide them with peace of mind. A healthy and calm mind helps people to be less tired and stressed and provides better sleep.

• Yoga is both calming and more efficient. A 1998 study published in The Lancet taught a yogic technique known as "complete breathing" to people with lung problems due to congestive heart failure. After one month, their average respiratory rate decreased from 13.4 breaths per minute to 7.6. Meanwhile, their exercise capacity increased significantly, as did the oxygen saturation of their blood. In addition, yoga has been shown to improve various measures of lung function, including the maximum volume of the breath and the efficiency of the exhalation.

• Yoga reduces the feelings of frustration, regret, anger, fear, and desire that can cause stress.

• Many people suffer from chronic low self-esteem. It depends on how it is handled, whether negatively or positively. Yoga helps people to adapt a positive approach people will have sustained views and it also helps people to experience the feelings of gratitude, empathy, and forgiveness.

• Yoga helps to ease pain. When an individual is relieved from pain, their mood improves, they are more inclined to be active.

• Yoga and meditation build awareness. The more there is awareness, it is easier to break destructive emotions.

“Yoga means addition – addition of energy, strength and beauty to body, mind and soul.”

–Amit Ray