Yoga reduces stress and anxiety, improves posture and fights depression. 10 benefits of yoga in short
Over 300 million people practice yoga. But in order not to waste the ancient Indian discipline, one must avoid easy trends. Yoga is also therapy.
BENEFITS OF YOGA
Physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being. The outstanding success and growth of yoga explain this extraordinary combination of benefits. Not to mix up with practices that have nothing to do with this ancient Indian discipline, which has also become a brand with relative speculations. But let’s look at what the most important benefits of yoga are and how we can grasp them by practicing it.
[other sources: Yoga Statistics Worldwide]
ADVANTAGES OF YOGA
Yoga helps to regain harmony with body, soul, and mind and to feel better: it reduces the levels of anxiety and depression while keeping us fit and healthy. The number of people who practice yoga is constantly growing, an oriental discipline that has now become much more than a fashion, but a real trend within alternative lifestyles.
Not to mention that year after year, from the original discipline yoga, has branched out into many therapeutic variations including a new practice with beneficial effects on the ovaries, pituitary, and thyroid gland and able to act on the production of oestrogen: hormonal yoga.
A few lessons are enough to strengthen the back muscles and adopt a better posture, also getting several benefits such as reducing any muscle pain and back pain. But yoga also increases the ability to concentrate, improves mood, and is good for the heart.
BENEFITS OF YOGA: STUDY
In particular, a study conducted at the “Fatebenefratelli” hospital in Milan in collaboration with IAHV Onlus, in order to etermine in a scientific way what the benefits of yoga are – which tested the Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) method on about 180 people with clinical anxiety and depression, highlighting how yoga acts on cortisol and lactate levels reducing them significantly. Participants in the study continued yoga therapy at home for six months, achieving a 60 percent reduction in stress and anxiety levels.
[other sources: Exploring the therapeutic effects of yoga and its ability to increase the quality of life]
BENEFITS OF PRACTICING YOGA FOR BODY AND MIND
So here are the 10 benefits of yoga:
Practicing Yoga decreases the levels of anxiety and stress
Yoga helps you relax and calm down. It stimulates the nervous system and reduces fatigue. It also improves self-perception by increasing self-esteem.
It teaches how to use the breath in the best way
Practicing yoga teaches you to breathe better, more deeply, and less impulsively, and this also allows the body to relax.
Increase your focus
Practicing yoga requires a lot of concentration since it is necessary to remember the unique positions to complete the various sequences without losing the connection between body and mind. The result is a greater ability to concentrate even in daily life and in carrying out various activities and an improvement in both short- and long-term memory.
Fights depression
Practicing yoga allows you to find a physical and spiritual balance, and this allows you to find peace. It also calms the mind by reducing negative emotion and helps to better overcome pain.
It is an excellent physical activity
Practicing yoga is not only good for the mind but also for the body: the various sequences performed allow you to activate all the muscles and strengthen the legs and arms. Yoga increases the elasticity of the body and, as already mentioned, also allows you to find relief from back pain. Not to mention that training the body by performing different sequences allows you to prevent any contractures.
Practicing yoga is good for the heart
Yoga lowers blood pressure, slows the heartbeat, and can be a cure-all especially for people with hypertension.
Slows down ageing
According to several studies, practicing yoga has antioxidant effects and helps fight ageing.
Improve your posture
The different stretching, breathing, and stretching exercises allow you to improve. Yoga, therefore, proves to be a real panacea for all those who, for work reasons, spend most of their day sitting at their desk.
Promotes sleep
The benefits of yoga are infinite! Practicing yoga promotes relaxation, and this facilitates good sleep. Practicing physical activity allows you to rest better: with yoga, even if it is slow and gentle movements, they involve all the muscles of our body and fatigue, even if it is not immediately felt, it favours rest.
We can do it at any time, and everywhere
Unlike other activities, it is possible to practice yoga at any time, even during a lunch break or at home: in the latter case, it is necessary to have a mat and other basic equipment.
Introduce yoga in your daily routine and you will slowly start noticing the benefits of yoga on your body and mind. We have some free tutorial here for you to get started with yoga. We also offer online and offline private classes and beginner yoga courses. Check our Online Yoga School.