Many of us think yoga is just about maintaining hard poses and stretching to improve our body flexibility but it's much more than it. It’s a workout that involves the whole body and mind as well. It is a combination of meditation, chanting, prayer, breath work, yoga postures, cardio, and even selfless action. Yoga is around us for ages but in the last decades, the craze around yoga has increased exponentially, thanks to the collaborative efforts of government and yogis that made people aware and accessible to the ancient practice and mediation.
For some people yoga is a retreat from daily chaos, for some it’s for burning calories, for some it’s about building core strength, and many more. There are numerous benefits of yoga that are discussed below:
- Improves Posture: Working for long hours on a desk or lying on the bed not only damages your spine internally but also makes you feel tired. Practicing certain yoga asanas like Mountain pose, Shoulder opener, and Cat-cow stretch can improve your spine health holistically.
- Build Strength: Many yoga poses require you to bear your own weight in numerous ways like the Tree pose, Chair pose, and plank pose. Holding these poses for several breath help in increased muscle tone.
- Mental Calmness: Not every asana is intense and physical. Some also help to calm your mind by focusing on your breath and disengaging from your thoughts. Some poses to try are the Triangle pose, Pigeon pose, and corpse pose.
- Increase Self-Confidence: Yoga practice is a combination of body and mind. That makes you aware of your self-body. Regular yoga practice makes you accept yourself without any judgment and hence helps in building confidence. The poses you must try are Downward Dog split, Side plank, Lizard pose, and Crow pose.
- Improves Sleep: A sleep disorder also known as Insomnia occurs in approximately 50% of the adult population resulting in an overall decrease in productivity. For all these sleeping disorders Yoga is one of the scientifically proven cures. For fewer sleep disturbances you can practice Happy Baby Pose, Leg Up the Wall Pose, and Recline Goddess Pose.
- Cardiovascular Benefits: Many studies found yoga has a positive effect on cardiovascular risk factors. All these studies summarized that yoga helps in controlling the pace of breathing, makes a favourable change in heart rate, stroke capacity, and may more favourably change. The practices that can be followed are the Extended triangle pose, Cow face pose, and bridge pose.
