When we think about physical fitness, images often come to mind, which include weightlifting, running, and other strenuous exercises. Enter Yoga. Practicing yoga can help you focus, have less impact, and is an exercise that can bring benefits to your body. Isn’t it too good to be true? Let’s find out why yoga is important.
What is Yoga?
The history of yoga in northern India dates back 5000 years. It is a form of exercise that helps your mind, body, and soul. It’s a practice with a long history that is now taking the fitness world by storm, with almost every fitness center offering yoga classes, warm studios, and even private lessons.
That’s Why Yoga Is Good for You
Greater Flexibility
You might think that you need to be flexible even if you try yoga, but the opposite is true. Yoga is a tool that allows you to become more flexible, no matter where you start. It takes time, and you may find yourself flexible one day and stiff the next, but with perseverance, you’ll find that you can reach your toes more easily and can start doing bends and stretches that you didn’t think you had. Previously possible. Enhanced flexibility will give you a greater range of motion, help improve your posture, and even help you maintain a stable balance as you age.
A stronger Core
Almost every yoga pose helps to strengthen your core. Yoga focuses on stability, and as your core becomes stronger, you can engage in more challenging yoga poses for even longer periods of time than before. But building a stronger core can do more than just improve your regular yoga practice. A stronger core helps protect your internal organs and enhances your balance and stability, which becomes important as you age.
More Relaxed
Yoga is important for relaxation in several ways. First, some yoga poses, such as Lotus and Corpse Pose, can help you focus on your breath and consolidate your energy. Other poses, such as balasana (baby pose), still focus on breathing but at the same time stretch the hips, where most of the tension in our body tends to be concentrated, and can even gently massage our organs to help promote relaxation and digestion.
Helps Adjust Posture
Modern life has us sitting every day, listlessly typing numbers into spreadsheets, or leaning over our phones to chat, but posture still matters. You may remember that your parents asked you to stand up straight, and today it’s harder than when you were a kid. However, yoga offers a solution. It encourages you to “ground” your feet and stand with your spine straight. It also offers some poses that can help you eliminate listlessness. Backbends and neck extensions are great for counteracting the time you spend hunched over and getting you thinking about how to sit and stand up straight throughout the day.
Mental Health Can Be Improved
Studies have shown that yoga may help reduce anxiety and depression in individuals. Yoga is believed to be beneficial for these ailments due to its ability to relieve stress and engage in introspection. While more research is needed to quantify the true health benefits of yoga for depression, it does look like a promising therapeutic supplement.
No matter what benefits you want to experience, yoga is good for you. And you don’t have to practice every day – although that’s great – and it turns out that practicing once or twice a week can help people immensely
