There are many different types of yoga that have different benefits. You should take a look at these 25 reasons Yoga is important and why doing more yoga will enhance your body and mind. No matter what type of yoga you practice, it will benefit your health. When you practice yoga, the main goal is to connect the breathing with your stances and poses. This puts your mind at ease and also strengthens your body and improves your flexibility. You will also feel more accomplished and at peace with yourself. Whether you are just starting your yoga journey or have a bit of experience, Yoga is Important.
1. Start With A Positive Day
Yoga is a great way to get yourself energized and ready to take on the day. Even if you do a few quick sun salutations in the morning, it can help you get your body energized and in a good position to get it started on a good note.
2. Strengthens Muscles
Even experienced yogis will tell you that it’s not so easy in the beginning. Yoga isn’t so complex that you have to be a master at it to succeed. At the same time, it isn’t something that you’ll get completely right on the first try. You have to know how to use your bodyweight to lift yourself up, down, and get your body into different poses and shapes. You’ll be using every part of your body to tone and define your muscles.
3. Stress Relief
Through deep breathing and self-awareness, yoga helps you regulate your nervous system. It takes care of things like lowering your blood pressure and keeping your body in check so that you can be free of stress. According to the Mayo Clinic, one of the best ways to ease daily of stress is to participate in yoga. Once you begin to practice you will see why yoga is important. You will find that it will help you with becoming a more calm and patient person in all areas of your life.
4. Mood Enhancement
Yoga doesn’t just help you ease stress, it also boosts your mood. According to a study that was published in 2005, yoga can help you lessen the intensity of feelings of depression and anxiety. In this study, there were two groups of women. Both groups of women reported that they had been suffering from depression or some sort of emotional discomfort. One group participated in yoga for 90 days. The participants in the other group didn’t. At the end of those 90 days, the women who participated in yoga experienced less anxiety and depression than the women in the other group. This is why Yoga is important.
5. Reduce Panic Attacks
Anyone with panic attacks knows how frightening they can be. Your breathing gets harder to control, your heart begins to race at dangerous levels, and you feel a sense of helplessness and doom. Luckily, if you suffer from panic attacks, yoga can help with making them easier to deal with. When you feel like you are in the presence of a threat, your breathing starts to quicken and get out of control as you go into a panic attack. Then, you realize that you’re breathing this way and it makes you panic even more. Once you slow down and take a second to pay attention to your breath, as they teach in yoga practice, you can relieve your nervous system and the panic attack won’t be as intense as it usually is. Again, yoga is important to your health.
6. Effective Weight Loss
When you practice yoga, you will definitely burn calories. You should be aware of what your body feels like as you participate. This can help you become more mindful and apt to be in the present moment even when you’re doing little things like eating and working out. If you want to burn more calories while you practice yoga, you have to increase your heart rate level. Ashtanga, Vinyasa, or Power Yoga is a great option for a more intense yoga session. The more relaxing classes are wonderful for mindfulness and peace, but they won’t be much help if you’re looking to get calories burned. For example, Yoga Sculpt classes are great because they use weights to advance the intensity of each movement.
7. Improves Digestion
There are certain yoga poses that can help with the condition of your organs. It can help make digestion more comfortable and easy. It can also help with bowel movement if you are constipated. When you perform yoga exercises with twists or inversions, it can help with the regulation of your digestive system. Your stomach will also be at ease if you are someone that suffers from anxiety issues because of the calming aspects of yoga.
8. Add Balance and Stability to Your Life
Balance improvement is one of the biggest benefits of yoga. This is an important part of pretty much any activity that you participate in. And it becomes more important as you age because your body gets weaker. You need a strong balance so that you won’t fall or injure yourself as easily when you get to that point in age. There are many poses in yoga that can help you improve your balance. Some of those are the tree pose, mountain pose, etc.
9. Tightens Your Core
You’re going to have to keep your core engaged because there are many poses that require you to be balanced and held for extended periods of time. This is perfect for strengthening, tightening and defining your abs. It also keeps your back from injury. Once you master the ability to keep your abdominal area tight and alert while you practice, you will take stress off of other major parts of your body like your back.
10. Adds Mental Alertness
Are you having trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep? Are you bothered by stressful thoughts? This is probably because of the fact that we are so used to being busy and trying to accomplish everything at once. Once you being to practice yoga, you will learn how to get into and stay in the present moment. This is important because a lifestyle that involves constant rushing and multitasking will lead to more stress and uneasiness.
11. Improves Flexibility
When we get older our wrists and joints begin to become more fragile and stiff. This is why most older people have arthritis or constant discomfort in their joints. When you hold certain poses in yoga for an extended time, this will help you become more flexible and take off pain in your wrists and joints.
12. Helps Detox and Cleanse Your Body
Yoga helps with the natural cleansing process that goes on in your body. Certain twist poses will help the organs free themselves of toxins and other harmful things that put you at risk of illness. It also helps when you participate in yoga that involves heat. This is because sweating can also help you detoxify.
From the pages of American Osteopathic Association: The Benefits of Yoga
What Are the Benefits of Yoga
A helpful article by Web MD: Yoga
13. Improves Posture
This is the perfect exercise for people will poor posture. When you practice yoga you will have a better chance of improving your posture, especially if you are someone that often slouches or has a hooked appearance in their back and spine.
14. Promotes Healthy Lungs
Deep breathing is a perfect way to help your lungs function and stay in good condition. According to a medical study, yogic breathing exercises can help your lungs function and last longer. Just like many other muscles in your body, your lungs need to be worked regularly so they operate correctly. If not, they will get in bad shape and it will be harder to breathe. When you are doing yoga, make sure that you are taking deep breaths, as this will help your lungs expand.
15. Improves Self-Confidence
When you’re practicing yoga you might come across a pose or stance that is hard to perform. Yoga teaches you to do it anyway, and get through the discomfort even if you aren’t sure that you can do it. When you give it your all and push yourself to complete the exercise, you feel better about yourself once you’re done. This makes you more confident and happy about your performance.
16. Builds Interaction With Others
If your yoga practice involves another person or a group of people, you can feel connected to them and experience a feeling of unity. You are all in one space looking to achieve the same goal. Knowing and embracing this fact can make you feel more powerful and connected with those around you.
17. Improved Circulation
Having a healthy circulation is an important part of health. Yoga poses that have you in positions like upside down are great for blood flow and circulation. Legs up the wall is another great pose for that.
18. Helps Attention Span
You can become better at being attentive and more focused on things when you ease your mind and get rid of distracting things. The main focus of yoga is always your breath. However, when you begin to learn this you can become better at paying attention to all things in your life. You’ll know how to focus and not get distracted so easily.
19. You Will Be More Grateful
Most people go through the day and don’t pay attention to their breath. When you focus on your breath you pay attention to the little things that matter, such as the fact that you are alive and well. Knowing this will inspire you to be more grateful.
20. Promotes Emotional Stability
When you’re angry and you’re thinking about saying something that you will regret later, you need to stop and focus on your breath. Once you start to breathe deeply you will notice how calm you feel. Yoga teaches us to pay attention to how we breathe. When we’re mad, happy, or scared our breath begins to change. When you learn how to acknowledge and control your breath it will be easier for you to handle these emotions. You will also become better at how you respond to certain situations.
21. Decreases Inflammation
Diseases like arthritis and cancer are linked to inflammation. Regular yoga practice can help with that. According to a medical study, patients that had breast cancer practiced yoga and their inflammation level decreased significantly. They also reported that they felt less tired and had more energy.
22. Eases Chronic Pain
Yoga can help you ease intense pain and it can even change the way you feel it. According to a Harvard medical study, yoga is often used in physical therapy to help people ease themselves of chronic pain.
23. Improved Sleep
Constant stress is something that will cause you to lose sleep and more likely to experience insomnia. Sleep is important because, without it, you are at risk of high-stress levels which can lead to fatal diseases. For this reason alone, yoga is important.
24. Headache Relief
Next time you have a headache you should try to do some yoga before you take any medicine. Doing inversion poses will help with blood flow and ease the pain that comes with headaches. It stretches out the neck and helps make sore spots and tightness feel better.
25. Relieves Tension Before Bedtime
If you’re living a more sedentary lifestyle, that can be harsh on the spine and wrists. Yoga will help with making you more comfortable and end the day with peace. When you get on your mat today, remember that you’re helping your body improve and stay healthy.
Let us know if you have any other reasons for why Yoga is Important and how it is working for you. Our readers all are looking for information on ways to look and feel better.