Benefits of Yoga

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a yogi and I don’t do yoga as much as I know I should. I do, however, understand the benefits and am striving to make it a larger part of my fitness routine. Despite my lack-of-a-relationship with yoga in the past, I’m here to tell you why you should strive to include it in your routine, too.

1. STRESS

Our days are busy. We ALL become extremely absorbed in our schedules and the crazy lives we live. We hardly take the time to stop and take a deep breath. If we don’t learn to manage the stress we build on a daily basis, it can have a negative impact on our health – emotionally, mentally, and physically. Yoga is an incredible way to quiet our minds, relax our bodies, and relieve built up stress…even if just performed one day per week.

2. FLEXIBILITY

Stretching and improving flexibility is often one of the most neglected components of fitness. Working to improve flexibility improves our weightlifting and cardio workouts, but also helps to prevent injury through better range of motion and form. Yoga stretches both muscles and soft tissues of the body like tendons and ligaments.

3. BLOOD FLOW & OXYGEN

Yoga is as much about breath as it is about moving through fluid asanas and balance postures. Blood flow and oxygen intake contribute to nutrient transportation and nitric oxide in the blood. Oxygen leads to nitric oxide leads to the opening of blood vessels leads to better blood flow leads to better transportation of nutrients throughout the body leads to better health, better workouts, and better cardiovascular health. Got it? Good!

4. POSTURE

Yoga formations are specific…very specific…and difficult (but modifiable)…and worth it! A lot of formations involve tipping at the hip while keeping everything straight up through the top of the head. Through learning how to stack your body properly, you improve posture significantly. Not just for workouts, but naturally for everyday life.

5. STRENGTH

Yoga involves some rather awkward and unnatural movements that are either held or put together in a fluid sequence of motion. Your body weight is your resistance. You’re not only working many of the larger muscles within the body, but the small stabilizer muscles, as well. The result? Overall strength and improved balance!

One final thought…the lower back is one of the most injured and problematic parts of the body for many many people. Yoga has the power to create an incredibly strong lower back through engagement of the entire core (very important). A healthy lower back and core is a result of all of the benefits of yoga put together, which leads to improvement in almost every aspect of a healthy and fit body.

These are just a few benefits of yoga. Let me know how your yoga session(s) go and share all the additional benefits you discover on your own!

Yours in Health,

Tanya