The Benefits of Yoga
Maybe you’re eager to try a class and you have stumbled here to figure out if yoga is really going to benefit you?
While modern media and advertising may have us think that yoga is all about physical poses, the entirety of yoga includes a wide range of contemplative and self-disciplinary practices, such as meditation, chanting, mantra, prayer, breathwork, ritual, and even selfless action.
The word “yoga” comes from the root word “yuj,” which means “to yoke” or “to bind.” The word itself has numerous meanings, from an astrological conjunction to matrimony, with the underlying theme being connection.
Imagine a tree with 8 branches, the physical practice of yoga like the poses you explore in class, make up just 1 of those branches! Others include, mindful breathing, concentration, social ethics, turning inward and more. We call these part of the “Eight Limbs of Yoga”
Yoga is incredibly beneficial to our overall well-being and here are seven simple reasons why you should consider yoga today.
Yoga improves flexibility
It is a mistaken belief that you have to be flexible to do yoga, that is a myth. Becoming flexible is just a benefit of “doing” yoga, you don’t have to already be flexible to start. Flexibility is an important component of physical health. Yoga offers many styles to choose from, varying in intensity from high to moderate to mild. Even the lowest intensity styles have been found to very much so increase flexibility.
Yoga helps you sleep better
Stimulation is good, but too much of it taxes the nervous system. Yoga can provide relief from the hustle and bustle of modern life. Yoga encourages Pratyahara which is one of the eight limbs of yoga, it means “a turning inward of the senses” which provides downtime for the nervous system. Another by-product of a regular yoga practice, is better sleep, which means you’ll be less tired and stressed and less likely to have accidents. Sleep is one of the key benefits of yoga that nearly every participant of yoga can experience no matter what their skill level.
Yoga may boost your immunity
When you contract and stretch muscles, move organs around, and come in and out of yoga postures, you increase the drainage of lymph (a viscous fluid rich in immune cells). This helps the lymphatic system fight infection, destroy cancerous cells, and dispose of the toxic waste products of cellular functioning.
Yoga will likely improve your posture
Your head is like a bowling ball—big, round, and heavy! So when it’s balanced directly over an erect spine, it takes much less work for your neck and back muscles to support it. Move it several inches forward, however, and you start to strain those muscles. Hold up that forward-leaning bowling ball for eight or 12 hours a day and it’s no wonder you’re tired. And fatigue might not be your only problem. The danger is that poor posture can cause back, neck, and other muscle and joint problems. As you slump, your body may compensate by flattening the normal inward curves in your neck and lower back. Support your spine and come to yoga.
Yoga eases your pain
Yoga can ease your pain. A combination of Yoga and Meditation can reduce pain in people with arthritis, back pain, fibromyalgia, carpal tunnel syndrome, and other chronic conditions. When you relieve your pain, your mood improves, you’re more inclined to be active, and you don’t need as much medication. If you do suffer with any of the above chronically, we recommend trying our Chair Yoga Class to start with.
Yoga builds muscle strength
Did anyone ever tell you that yoga is easy and gentle? Yes it can well be easy and gentle but it can also be quite the opposite! Strong muscles protect us from conditions like arthritis and back pain, and help prevent falls in elderly people. When you build strength through yoga, you balance it with flexibility. If you just went to the gym and lifted weights, you might build strength at the expense of your flexibility and mobility. If this is your goal, try one of our Vinyasa Flow classes
Yoga may improve your self-esteem
Many suffer from chronic low self-esteem. If you handle this negatively, you may pay the price in poorer health physically, mentally, and spiritually, therefore feeling a greater loss of self-esteem. We are here to help you take a positive approach and help you practice yoga, you’ll sense, initially in brief glimpses and later in more sustained views, that you’re worthwhile, important, that you serve great purpose here. If you practice regularly with an intention of self-examination and betterment; not just as a substitute for an exercise class, then you can access a different side of yourself. You’ll experience feelings of gratitude, empathy, and forgiveness, as well as a sense that you’re part of something bigger. While better health is not the goal of spirituality, it’s often a by-product, as documented by repeated scientific studies.
Investing in a yoga practice is investing in you. If reading some of these benefits really spoke to you and has encouraged you to take the next step with Yoga, I want to say “do it”, no one goes to a yoga class and regrets it, often I hear it being the best step people have taken, it sure was that way for me too.
Don’t be nervous, you are in the best hands and we built our studio with YOU in mind. It isn’t pretentious, there are no mirrors in the main studio, our teachers are soulfully beautiful and have acquired a high standard of expertise, we are truly here to help you make a difference to your mind, your body and your soul.
Take the next step and click here to book your first class
Loving Kindness, Lillie at Healing Haven
