Yoga is a spiritual, mental, and physical practice that’s been around for centuries. While different yoga types feel different, yogis and scientists alike will tell you they are all extremely beneficial for your mental and physical health.
The great thing about yoga is there are very few limitations to start. While colourful yoga pants, support blocks, and fancy mats are nice, you don’t necessarily need any of that stuff to get started. Instead, simply pick a basic yoga routine that has beginner poses and follow along. You’ll notice your body and mood change in no time.
Yoga will definitely improve your health in the following ways:
Better Flexibility: An experienced yogi can twist herself into pretzel-like poses, which would be a marvel to watch. Seriously, who knew the human body could even bend like that?! Achieving this requires you to keep your body conditioned for such movements, which over time your muscles will atrophy and your joints will settle into a limited range of motion.
Maybe in your first yoga class, you might not be able to touch your feet or even tuck your feet behind your head, just give it time and practice, and you will notice your body begin to loosen up.
Better Posture: Has anyone ever told you to stop slouching or to sit up straight? Having a bad posture does not just only look bad, it also has some negative effects on your body.
With bad posture, you are prone to a wide number of body pains like; backaches, joint problems, muscle fatigue and neck pain.
Lucky for you, yoga is a good way to remedy this. Yoga does this by getting your body back into the proper alignment with forcing you into unnatural positions.
Better Balance: From easy beginner movements to more advanced stretches, you will need to concentrate and focus in order to hold yoga poses. Over time, though, you will notice that you don’t have to concentrate quite as hard. That’s because your balance has naturally improved. Every yoga pose helps improve your balance, even the ones that do not appear to require any balance. When you are sitting or leaning you are still required to centre your body.
More Strength: Other types of workouts might require you to pump iron or pull on resistance bands, yoga only requires your own body weight as resistance.
Since yoga requires you to enter into and hold various positions, you will naturally strengthen your muscles.
Don’t worry about your muscles getting bored with the same old poses. As soon as one pose becomes easy for you there is always another harder pose for you to begin working on.
While just about every yoga pose helps your body to build strong muscles, some of the best include planks, bakasana, and various headstands.
Tones the Body: Every woman wants a nicely toned body and yoga can help with that as it tones your body without using weights or exercise equipment.
One worry a lot of women have when they hear the terms “resistance training” or “strength training” is: “Will it make me bulky?” Take a sigh of relief ladies because yoga won’t make you bulk up. Rather, it will give you a nice, lean figure
The poses that work best are the ones that pit your body weight against you, so go for any pose that has you lifting any body part in the air and holding it there. You will definitely feel the burn.
Better Sleep: While sleep experts recommend getting between 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night, many people are suffering from sleep problems.
Yoga helps to relax the nervous system, which is the part of your body responsible for a restful sleep. Additionally, yoga’s meditative aspect comes into play to quiet the mind. So if a racing mind is what keeps you from getting a good night’s sleep then performing yoga at any point during the day may offer you some relief.
There are specific poses you can do that are known to help people sleep more soundly. Try uttanasana, halasana, or savasana before tucking yourself under the covers. These should put your body into a relaxed state, making it easier for you to drift off to dreamland.
Yoga has many benefits when it comes to keeping your body healthy and fit. A yoga class will definitely work wonders for you and give that body you have always wanted and kept you relaxed.
Source: Bembu
