Benefits of Yoga
Music | 2021-06-02
Yoga is a religious practice that concentrates on achieving harmony between an individual's body-mind and nature. Yoga influences your spiritual, mental, and also physical health.
The word Yoga is derived from the Sanskrit word Yuj which implies joining or uniting. Yoga practices started in 3000BC in pre-Vedic Indian traditions. It was introduced in the west for the first time by the Hindu reformer Swami Vivekanand in 1893.
If one believes in practicing Yoga daily, then he/she is quite familiar with the benefits of Yoga. If you have never tried Yoga in your life, then you should start practicing it now giving its vast benefits on our lifestyle.
Let's have a look at the Advantages of yoga in our day-to-day life.
1. Helps to Improve breathing
For all living beings, the most important function is to breathe. "Pranayama" which is often called 'Yogic breathing' focuses on restraining the breath.
Practicing yogic breathing increases our lung's airflow and air capacity and also helps to increase oxygen saturation level.
Recent studies have found that practicing Pranayama along with other Asanas enhances lung function in patients with mild to chronic Asthma and other lung-associated health conditions such as Covid-19 disease.
2. Improve strength, balance, and flexibility
Yoga focuses on loosening our muscles, facilitating them to relax and stretch. Asanas such as Crescent lunge, Pyramid pose, half-moon pose, and Garland pose are supposed to be the best ones to improve our overall flexibility.
Each asana intends to direct on a specific group of muscles. For instance, an upward-facing dog, the downward-facing dog, helps to tone muscles in our upper and lower body increasing the strength of our lower and upper limbs. The tree pose is well perceived to develop balance and sustain our concentration level.
Rehearsing distinct given poses or asanas for 15-20 minutes daily, promotes strength, flexibility, and balance.
3. Decreases Stress
Over the ages, Yoga has been known to relieve stress and anxiety. Research has proven a 3-month yoga program can help lower stress, anxiety, fatigue, and depression to some extent in women who perceived emotional distress. It helps to reduce levels of cortisol hormone (the hormone responsible for stress).
Various sad occurrences in life result in Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in individuals. Studies have confirmed to improve these conditions by regular practice of asanas such as child's pose, extended puppy pose, head to knee forward bend, standing forward bend, etc.
4. Makes you Happier
Feeling unhappy and hopeless? With complete devotion, practice a dancer pose, warrior pose, cat-cow pose, pigeon and crow pose and within few minutes you will find yourself happy and delighted.
According to one survey, consistent yoga practice increases the level of serotonin (a hormone responsible for feelings of well-being & happiness). This can lead to an enormous level of happiness and cheerfulness in a person.
Moreover, with regular yoga practice, one can start to feel content which also contributes to procuring inner happiness and joy; being happy becomes a habit.
5. Increases Blood Flow
Relaxation exercises that you learn in yoga have the advantage of increasing blood circulation to your limbs and head. Significantly, yoga stimulates levels of hemoglobin which carries oxygen to tissues of the body.
Headstand, shoulder stand, and handstand these inverted poses draw venous blood from legs and pelvis to flow back to the heart. Then the heart pumps blood to the lungs to get freshly oxygenated. This aids in case of any swelling in your legs or kidney.
Twisting poses bring out venous blood from internal organs and let oxygenated blood flow there once the pose is released. Moreover, yoga thins your blood and prevents clot formation. This decreases the chances of heart attack and strokes.
6. Helps you Sleep better
Researchers show that routine yoga practice elevates the amount of melatonin hormone that governs sleep. It has a significant effect on stress, chronic pain, and depression - all that contribute to disturbed sleep.
In today's generation, it has become the habit of people to use mobile phones from waking up to going to bed. Instead, you invest your time in yoga, which will relieve tension despite all your hustle during the day and promote better sleep.
Practicing Yoga Nidra, Savasana, pranayama, and meditation before going to bed helps you to fall asleep faster and have undisturbed sleep.
7. Promotes healthy eating habits
Being present at the moment while eating is summoned as Mindful eating or intuitive eating. It's about paying attention to what you eat and notice the taste and smell of your food.
Research says that your brain signals to stop eating once you have eaten according to your body's need, but this is only possible when you are concentrating just on eating.
Compulsive eating and feeling a loss of control are the characteristics of binge eating. Yoga emphasizes mindfulness that implies having a complete concentration on things you are doing. Thus, improving your eating habits.
8. Improves digestion
One of the basic reason for weak digestion is less physical activity and more stress. Yoga is beneficial for both reasons.
Paschimottanasana(seated forward bend pose), Balasana( child's pose), Pawanmuktasana (wind relieving pose), trikonasana( triangle pose) are believed to ease constipation.
Moreover, twisting poses promote the waste to move out of the body, relieving you from all the problems associated with weak digestion. According to one analysis yoga also lessens the chances of Colon Cancer.
9. Drops your Blood Pressure and improves your heart health
High blood pressure is a major reason for most heart-related problems. Lowering your blood pressure lessens the risk of these problems.
Yoga assists you in lowering blood pressure. According to an article published in the British medical journal Lancet, Savasana (Corpse Pose) has been verified to lower blood pressure.
Moreover, yoga also decreases bad cholesterol and stress, the other two reasons for heart diseases. Thus, Yoga improves overall purposes that are responsible for keeping our heart healthy.
Be a regular yoga practitioner and experience a wide range of privileges that yoga can bring to your life. It's all about finding some time for yourself and impacting yourself positively through yoga with few minutes of daily practice.