Benefits of Yoga to Our Daily Lives

Maintaining a physically active lifestyle is important, but that doesn’t mean it has to be strenuous or exhaustive. Some of the best health benefits are achieved through the practice of yoga. From beginner poses to more difficult challenges, the practice of yoga offers something for every individual, so pull on your most comfortable pair of yoga pants and reap these life-changing benefits each day.

Peace of Mind

Like most forms of exercise, yoga delivers the mind and body to positive place, releasing stress and negative energy. Throughout each day, we draw negativity and stress to us, almost like iron filings to a magnet, but a few minutes of yoga can release that tension. A combination of yoga postures, breathing exercises, and meditation can effectively reduce the stresses of the day and bring you a peaceful calm.

Engaging in a daily yoga session can feel like the kind of getaway that seems too impossible to take. A drive into the country or down to the lake may be impractical every day, but there’s no reason you can’t send your mind on vacation. A quiet, undisturbed place is all you need to relax your mind and stretch your body. Before you know it, you’ll be far away from the bustling traffic, fighting children, and overbearing bosses.

Boost Your Emotional and Psychological Health

A study conducted by Duke University Medical Center uncovered some impressive findings in how yoga affects the minds of its practitioners. Individuals suffering from depression, schizophrenia, and other mental illnesses were noticeably improved through the practice of yoga, suggesting new therapies might be developed to help improve patients suffering psychological disorders.

The study found that yoga, conducted in a group setting, produced the most benefits for patients. Organized yoga classes helped patients’ brains produce oxytocin, which Linda Schlamadinger McGrath, founder of YogaSource, describes as the body’s “love and bonding” hormone. Additionally, the state of mindfulness created through yoga and meditation increases serotonin levels, known as the happiness hormone. These effects come together to boost feelings of contentment in the mind.

Improving mental health and reducing stress aren’t the only ways that yoga helps the mind each day. Yoga has also been shown to boost memory, which seems to be a side effect of the other benefits. By reducing the clutter in the brain and improving the mind’s functioning, our memories become clearer and more easily recalled. Overall, cognitive function is drastically improved by just a few minutes of yoga each day.

Physical Benefits of Yoga

Yoga benefits the body as well as the mind and the benefits here are just as impressive, beginning with the strengthening of muscle, cartilage, and tendons. Each yoga session works out the joints and prevents degeneration by exercising cartilage and muscle that isn’t normally exercised. Lacking this kind of stimulation, cartilage in the joints get worn, allowing bone to rub against bone, causing pain, discomfort, and rigidness.

In much the same way, yoga works out the spine, enhancing the strength and mobility of spinal disks. Without proper exercise, disks can herniate and compress nerves, but frequent asana poses keep those disks limber and flexible. Yoga practices, especially those involving backbends, forward bends, and frequent twists, also increase bone density throughout the body and decrease levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. In turn, this can help the body retain healthier levels of calcium.

Regular yoga practices also increases blood flow throughout the body, which benefits the body in a number of ways. First, it improves circulation to the extremities, reducing swelling and kidney problems. Heart health is also improved, both by the increased blood flow and by maximizing the uptake of oxygen. In turn, blood pressure can also be reduced through the regular practice of yoga.

Doctors advise a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity each day. By practicing yoga, you can meet that requirement, benefitting your mind and body in unexpected ways. The improvement of mental happiness and physical health is a strong motivator, so pull up a mat and get started.