Workout fads, fitness regimes come and go but there is no other form of exercise as endearing as the ancient discipline of yoga. It has been around for 5,000 years and has been growing in popularity among the mankind still. For many people, a consistent yoga practice offers mystical mental and physical health benefits such as stronger muscles, increased flexibility, mental clarity, and stress reduction. While for others, yoga provides a rejuvenating escape from the chaotic and busy lives. When putting together, all the benefits of yoga contribute towards an enhanced feeling of health, wellness, and longevity, which clearly explain why so many people are turning towards the holistic practice of yoga and find this art so addictive.
Explore the list below and learn the top seven yoga health benefits:
1. Enhances the Cardiovascular Health: You can barely tell when your heart health hits a low point and at what age. Increasing stress, unhealthy eating patterns, destructive habits, genetics, are all sources of poor cardiovascular fitness and give rise to heart attacks, strokes, blood clots, chest pain, and so much more. Among all the other forms of exercise routines, the art of yoga is by far the best workout that promotes a healthy heart. The daily yoga practices monitor several factors related to a poor heart fitness and result in positive effects: lowers blood pressure in people with hypertension, reduces stress, decreases blood sugar levels, improves lipid profile, etc., thereby maintaining a healthy heart health.
2. Increases Strength, Agility, and Flexibility: There are many sports that build strength while there are others that increase agility and hence there are only a few practices that enhances everything from strength to flexibility. One such is the practice of yoga that amplifies the range of motion, grants mobility, and make ligaments, connective tissues strong and pliable. The performance of yoga postures requires the carrying of one’s own body weight that elevates the overall body strength. And, yoga postures involve stretching and moving the body in different ways that loosen up the stiff muscles, brings a greater motion to tight areas and increases flexibility.
3. Enhances Cognitive Functioning and Memory: The wholesome yoga practices consists of yoga postures, breathing techniques and meditation that effectively calms the brain, triggers the parasympathetic nervous system thus improving memory, cognitive functioning, and concentration. Enhanced focus, remembrance aids in better learning, superior analytical skills, and high creativity thereby resulting in greater performance.
4. Promotes Weight Loss: Consistent, devoted yoga practice restores the hormonal imbalance within the body and normalizes the body weight. Also, by lowering stress, anxiety, and activating the rest-to digest response, it prevents a person from indulging in overeating that occurs due to stress and unpleasant emotions thus naturally promoting weight loss. It helps practitioners get in tune with their body and make them more sensitive to hunger cues making them a mindful eater. Additionally, the performance of certain yoga postures effectively helps in shedding extra pounds from the body.
5. Naturally reduces pain: The human race spends most of their time hunching over the desktop, using gadgets, driving, etc., that bends the body in a forward direction and leads to a backache, poor postural problems, crunching of the spine, and so much more. The science of yoga is a powerful solution that naturally alleviates a backache, neck pain, realigns the body muscles, and promotes better posture. Also, yoga is highly effective in diminishing the headaches, migraine, disease of arthritis, and several other joint pain safely.
6. Improves Respiratory Functions: The art of yoga includes the practice of pranayama– the technique of regulating the breath or cultivation of the life force through deep breathing. The performance of breathing exercises expands the lung capacity resulting in more tidal volume (the amount of air the lung can hold at a time), slows down the pace of breathing which improves the respiratory efficiency and grants longer lifespan to the individuals. The daily practice of yogic breathing techniques such as Kapalbhati, Anulom-Vilom, Ujjayi, etc., relieves symptoms of asthma, steadies the brain, and improves autonomic functions.
7. Gives a Boost To Lymphatic System: The lymphatic system is responsible for eliminating waste products and magnifying the immunity so that it can powerfully fight the bacteria and viruses. One potent way of strengthening the lymphatic system lies in the practice of yoga. The performance of inverted, supported yoga postures increases circulation of the lymph– a fluid that flows through the body and filters pathogens through lymph nodes effectively.
It’s hard to summarize the promising benefits of yoga in one blog as there are plenty. So, take up the regular practice of yoga and enjoy holistic well-being.
To Know more about the Health Benefits of Yoga, join yoga teacher training in India.