You can’t always control what goes on on the outside, but you can control what goes on on the inside with the right skills and techniques to do so. Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India – it is a type of exercise in which you move your body into various positions in order to become more fit or flexible, to improve your breathing, and to relax your mind and more. Keep reading to find out all of the ways that yoga can be beneficial towards your mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
Mental Strength
Stress Relief
Stretch and meditate away your everyday stress and struggles with yoga. Yoga does more than burn calories and tone muscles. It’s a total mind-body workout that combines strengthening and stretching poses with deep breathing and meditation or relaxation. Yoga can benefit three aspects of ourselves that are often affected by stress: our body, mind, and breathing.
Improves Attention and Concentration
Yoga is yet another way to practice mindfulness – becoming spiritually and mentally one with the present moment that you are in and appreciating your surroundings. Focusing on this one specific task – be it your state of mind, your bodily movements, your flexibility, or other factors – you are simply paying attention to that one and only present moment – ultimately resulting in complete focus and concentration. So, practicing yoga over long periods of time can improve these factors.
Physical Strength
Increased Flexibility
Yoga allows your body to move through every range of motion, and though it may be sometimes uncomfortable to remain in a pose, stretching the muscles and joints allows you to move deeper into the pose. Test the limits of your body and increase your flexibility with a regular yoga practice.
Improved Strength and Tone
Though yoga is not aerobic, a lot of research finds it can be just as good as aerobic exercise for improving health. It takes a lot of strength to hold your body in a balanced pose. Regular practice will strengthen the muscles of your arms, back, legs, and core ultimately improving your physical as well as inner strength and tone your body.