Why Is The Practice Of Yoga Good For You?
Yoga
Over recent years, it’s popularity has increased, and now a total of around 6 million Americans have experienced the wonderful benefits of yoga. People who practice yoga become more aware of the functioning of their body, including their posture, the way they move, and their body’s alignment. People who practice yoga generally become more happier, healthier, more peaceful, more centered and relaxed, less stressed, and more energetic.
To start a typical class, breathing and mild stretching exercises are performed to prepare the participants mentally as well as physically. Most classes consist of performing the asanas (yoga poses) either individually or linked in flows (known as vinyasana). At the end of each class there is a short period of meditation or relaxation in shavasana (the corpse pose).
Many forms of can be practiced, and there are many classes offered. There are different benefits to be gained from engaging in the various forms. Iyengar is great for promoting the right bodily alignment, and may use props like straps, blocks, and cushions. Bikram (also known as hot yoga), is performed in a heated room. There are usually 26 poses performed in a particular order in a class. Hatha yoga includes both Iyengar and Bikram, and both are common in the US, for their promotion of good breathing and strengthening.
How can you benefit? Yoga promotes excellent flexibility, is great for the circulation, and also increases muscle strength. The benefits go beyond the physical body, as it also promotes a calm and relaxed state. Yoga has, as one of it’s most basic goals, the aim of balancing a person’s life with respect to mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health.
From a scientific standpoint, yoga has been studied and practiced for thousands of years. While the practice is ancient, the principles have been studied and proven by modern medicine to be beneficial. Over the years, substantial research has been done on the health benefits, through the Asanas and through Pranayama (breathing). Yoga has been shown to produce three sorts of effects on the body: physiological, psychological, and biochemical.
Some of the physiological benefits include: reduction in pulse and respiratory rate, decrease in blood pressure, increased cardiovascular efficiency, improvement in excretory functions, improvement in hand/eye coordination, normalization of weight, and decrease in pain. The psychological benefits of yoga are just as important and include: mood and subjective well-being increases, anxiety and depression decrease, concentration improves, learning improves, social skills improve, depth perception improves, and self acceptance increases. Finally, the biochemical improvements that yoga promotes include: blood glucose decreases, sodium decreases, HDL cholesterol increases, LDL and VLDL cholesterol decreases, hemoglobin increases, total serum proteins increase, and the total white blood cell count decreases.
One of the best things about yoga is that as a single practice it can do so much more for the body than most other forms of exercise, and as such can easily fit into even the busiest lifestyle.
Ana Paula Hernandez is a yoga instructor with over twenty years of experience. She believes that the key to successful yoga practise is learning how to perform the basic yoga poses correctly right from the start.