As most people know, yoga is not a new invention. Yoga can be tracked more than 5000 years back. Yoga originally originated in India, where yoga is defined as a training system, for the body and mind.
In the western world, yoga was previously surrounded by a lot of mysticism, but yoga is neither mysterious nor witchcraft. Yoga is simply some physical and mental exercises that focus on being present, and thereby getting a stronger body and more mental strength in the form of energy and joy.
1: Yoga improves your sleep
Insomnia is unfortunately quite widespread, and there are many reasons for this. One of them is that many of us are not aware of how we can slow down after a long day and prepare our body and mind for a good night’s sleep. Yoga cannot cure sleep problems, but a steady and regular yoga practice will have a positive effect on your sleep pattern.
Not all forms of yoga are good to practice right before bed. Flow yoga and hot yoga makes your heartbeat faster and makes you sweat, whereas in hatha or yin yoga you get a calmer yoga class with breaks between poses. If the fatigue doesn’t set in, you can get comfortable in shavasana in you bed (you lie comfortable with your arms slightly out from your body, palms facing upwards and feet pointing slightly out to either side). Then try to evoke the feeling you have after practicing yoga. Imagine that your muscles are tired and that it feels like a relief just to lie still for a few minutes. Take a few deep breaths and slowly exhale again. Just lie still and focus on your breathing and on relaxing your muscles.
2: Your muscle mass will increase
When you practice yoga, your whole body comes into use. You strengthen both the large muscle groups in the thighs, arms, stomach and back and the smaller muscle groups. This means that after your yoga practice you will experience soreness in places in your body that you do not notice daily.
When you strengthen your body using your own body weight, as you do in yoga, it helps tone and tighten the body. That’s an advantage, but it’s not the only bonus of getting stronger.
3: Yoga reduces feelings of stress
During a stressful period, it can be difficult to feel yourself, which is exactly why yoga is a fantastic tool. The calmness hat occurs when you practice yoga also makes it possible to notice how you feel. By turning your attention inward, you will become able to perceive what is moving inside you, which is necessary to become aware of how you really feel, so that you can do something about it.
When you stress, you tense your body. With the help of yoga exercises, you can loosen the tension and allow your muscles to relax. In yoga a lot of work is also done with breathing, and by focusing on the breath, you will be able to create a balance and activate the parasympathetic nervous system.
Yoga is not a cure to stress. It may be a helping hand to get to the root of where the stress originates. By making yoga a part of your everyday life, you can prevent a lot of stress and lower your stress level in general.
4: Yoga stimulates digestion
When you practice yoga, you move your abdominal and back muscles to a great extent. By moving around from position to position, you twist your upper body and give a gentle massage to your intestines, which sets your digestion in motion.
It is important to maintain a good active digestion, so that the stomach muscles can work optimally. Your intestines and the transverse abdominal muscles share nerve fibers, so if your intestines are not thriving, the nerve supply for your abdominal muscles decreases, which can result in sluggish training results.
5: Yoga stretches make you soft and flexible
Connective tissue is everywhere in the body and is the tissue that binds body parts such as muscles and bones together. Unhealthy connective tissue is drained of water and feels tough. It is full of tension and lacks freedom of movement and often causes pain. A healthy and hydrated connective tissue provides more elastic movements and greater freedom of movement.
The many stretches you do in yoga sessions ensures that you stretch and soften your connective tissue. Already after a few sessions you can open your hips more, stretch out even further and get deeper into the positions. You will experience a feeling of well-being in your body. Well-being should give you the desire to maintain a stable yoga practice, which gives you good conditions for a toned and slim body.
6: Yoga gives you better physical balance
A good balance consists of a good cooperation between the brain and the muscles that helps keep you stable. With a good balance you can stay on your feet when the bus starts jerking and avoid wiggling your ankle on an uneven surface. In addition to the fact that it is practical to have a good balance, it also helps to give you a better posture as well as improve sports performance and prevent injuries.
With age the ability to balance deteriorates, but fortunately this is something you can reduce by training it, as you do in yoga.
7: Yoga increase your ability to concentrate
When you practice yoga, it requires you to concentrate on your breathing. This process of observing your breath, calms your mind and makes you more mentally relaxed. As a result of this you increase your memory and will be able to store more information.
By reducing mental stress and physical tension, we can remember more and have more organized thoughts. Improved cognitive function occurs when we are able to clear our minds. If our mind is at peace and quiet, we can use our mental facilities more effectively. Overall, by reducing mental stress though daily yoga practice, you will be able to think bigger and more clearly.
8: Yoga strengthens your breathing
Deep and calm breathing is an important part of yoga. Yogic breathing techniques focus on controlling the breath and breathing deeply from the pit of the abdomen all the way up to the top of the lungs.
These methods will make you feel more relaxed and balanced. Yogic breathing also has some good side effects, including increased lung capacity and volume (the total amount of air your lungs can hold at one time). You can make use of these techniques daily or when necessary, in your daily life. The techniques can help you stay calm in emergencies, think more clearly in stressful situations, and help reduce pain.
9: Yoga extends your life
Daily yoga will help you increase your fitness level, regulate your heart rate, reduce stress levels, and make you a happier person. All these elements can add valuable years to your life.
Yoga is also known to reduce the risk of heart disease and it reduces the rate of your breathing, which has been linked to a longer life. Recent studies have also shown that the meditational element of yoga can help delay the aging process.
10: Yoga relieves back pain
Back pain is often associated with poor posture, and for some improved posture is one of the biggest benefits gained from practicing yoga.
As previously mentioned, by practicing yoga you can achieve improved flexibility, endurance, and mobility. You also become more body-aware when practicing yoga. This means that you become better at listening to what your body has to say, during which you become aware of where the tensions are. As you become better at listening to what your body has to say, you will be better at reacting to the body’s signals.