Over the last few decades, there has been a tremendous increase in the popularity of Yoga. Not only research proved about its benefits, but also many celebrities, medical professionals are recommending these practices to their friends, family and followers. Before we get into the benefits of yoga it is important for us to know what yoga really is.
What is YOGA?
Many people call Yoga an ancient method of training and set of difficult postures. But the real meaning of the word ‘ Yoga’ is Union. It is a practice that connects the body, mind and spirit through different poses, meditation and control of breathing.
The popular Yogi, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev calls Yoga as “an expression of life.” He also says that. ” Yoga essentially means finding the keys to the nature of existence.”
Yoga training is not just about bending, twisting and holding breath. It is a process that brings us into a state where we see and experience reality just the way it really is. The practice of yoga allows you to experience the whole universe as a part of yourself – this is the union that yoga creates.
What are the benefits of Yoga?
Practicing yoga regularly has numerous benefits that can positively affect both your physical and mental health. The picture above gives you an idea of what yoga training can do from your inner body to tip toe. It can be used to cure all the problems irrespective of internal or external body.
The health benefits of Yoga are divided into following:
1. Internal Health Benefits of Yoga
2. External Health Benefits of Yoga
3. Emotional Health Benefits of Yoga
4. Yoga Working on the body chemistry
5. Yoga working towards prevention of diseases.
Importance of Yoga.
Yoga is not a religion, it is a way of living that focuses on a healthy mind in a healthy body. A human is a mental, physical and spiritual being. Yoga training will help you in developing all these three aspects.
Yogic exercises recharge the body with cosmic energy and facilitate the following:
– Attains perfect equilibrium and harmony
– promotes self healing
– enhances personal power
– removes toxins and negative blocks from body and mind
– Increases self awareness
– Helps in growing attention, focus and concentration, very important for kids.
– Reduces stress on the physical body by activating, parasympathetic nervous system.
Benefits of Yoga:
If you have done your Downward dog yoga pose today, you probably feel more relaxed. Leaving your level of expertise in yoga aside, if you practice yoga regularly you can feel better from head to toe.
- Yoga improves strength, balance and Flexibility.
Slow moments and deep breathing of yoga training increases blood flow and warm up muscles, alongside holding a pose to build your strength.
2. Yoga helps in relieving stress.
Yoga is known for its ability to ease stress and promote relaxation. In fact, science says that Yoga can decrease the secretion of cortisol which is known as the primary stress hormone. When doing alone or along with other methods of reducing stress such as meditation, yoga can be a powerful and efficient way to keep stress away.
3. Reduces Inflammation.
Yoga not only increases your mental health but also reduces inflammation. Inflammation is a regular immune response, but chronic inflammation can cause serious problems such as heart diseases, diabetes and cancer. Although more research is needed on this topic, before confirmation, these findings indicate that it helps in protecting against diseases caused by chronic inflammation.
4. Improves heart health
As the heart pumps blood to all your body parts in order to keep them working, it is important that the heart should be healthy. High blood pressure is one of the main causes of heart problems, such as heart attack and strokes. Lowering Blood pressure can help reduce risk of these problems even more. Adding yoga to their daily routine decreases the chances of health problems.
5. Improves quality of life.
Yoga training has become an increasingly common therapy to improve quality of life. Practicing yoga will improve the quality of mood and fatigue. Yoga also helps in decreasing nausea and vomiting, while improving overall health quality.
6. Improves sleep quality.
Poor sleep can be a side effect of obesity, high blood pressure and depression. So incorporating Yoga in your daily life promotes sleep quality, reduces sleep disturbances, reduces sleep medications. Yoga increases the secretion of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep and wakefulness.
7. Helps in improving breathing.
Pranayama or Yogic breathing is a yoga training that mainly focuses on controlling breathing through breathing exercises and techniques. Yoga increases Vital capacity. Vital capacity refers to the maximum amount of air that can be expelled from lungs. It is very important for people with asthma, lung diseases and heart problems.
8. Relieves Migraine.
Migraine is a severe recurring headache that affects 1 out of 7 Americans each year. Priorly Migrans are treated with medications to relieve. Practicing yoga can help in reducing headache intensity, frequency and pain. It can also stimulate the Vagus nerve which is shown to be effective in relieving migraine.
9. Promotes Healthy eating schedule.
Intuitive eating also known as mindful eating is the concept to encourage being present in the moment while eating. This is all about paying attention to taste, smell and texture of your food, and also noticing thoughts, feelings or sensations while eating. Promoting healthy eating habits also controls blood sugar, increases weight loss and treats eating disorder behaviours. This also helps in reducing compulsive overeating and loss of control on eating.
10. Increases strength.
In addition to improving flexibility, yoga is a great exercise routine to strengthen your body. In fact, few yoga poses can build muscles and increase strength. Yoga training can be an effective way to boost strength and endurance, especially when you combine it with a regular exercise routine.
11. Fights Depression
Some studies show that yoga has an antidepressant effect, and can help in decreasing symptoms of depression. This is because yoga can reduce levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that influences the level of serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter that is associated with depression. It also reduces the level of ACTH, which is responsible for stimulating or releasing cortisol.
CONCLUSION:
Yoga is a solution for nearly all physical health and mental health problems. Finding time to practice yoga just a few times per week will be enough to make a noticeable difference pertaining with health. It helps you to find inner peace which most of us are lacking now. Many people got attracted and adopted yoga which enabled them to lead a healthy lifestyle with all the health benefits. As a result, practicing yoga can be an enjoyable thing to do, while getting benefitted with various physical and mental health solutions. By practicing yoga regularly one can achieve a healthy and a peaceful lifestyle. There is nothing that Yoga cannot help you with. Moreover, Yoga is not a one day practice, it is a lifelong commitment. The more you practice, the more you are benefitted.