An ancient practice and meditation, yoga has experienced increasing popularity over the past several years. To many people, yoga is a way that offers retreat from their stressed and chaotic lives.
It has been used as a form of exercise to keep the mind and body happy and healthy. Being one of the most famous physical exercises practiced all across the world, yoga comes with various benefits both physical and mental health.
So, wherever you are and whatever you are doing, it takes around 15 minutes to practice yoga in a day.
But before you begin, read our post and learn what exactly yoga is some of its main styles, and the detailed health benefits of yoga that we have outlined for you.
History: According to some historians, the Yoga developed in India over 5,000 years ago by the Indus-Sarasvati Civilization. The word Yoga first appeared in the oldest sacred texts, the Rig Veda, and is derived from the Sanskrit root “Yuj”.
What is Yoga?
Stemming from the Sanskrit term Yuji, meaning union, yoga is an ancient exercise that has been bringing mind and body together for thousands of years.
Yoga is not merely a practice of physical exercise which is advantageous to the body but also has a spiritual and meditative grounding at its core.
It is a total mind-body exercise that involves strengthening and stretching poses with deep breathing and meditation.
Yoga involves breathing exercises and poses designed to promote relaxation and relieve stress.
It does more than burn calories and toning muscles such as boosting physical fitness, quietening your thoughts, improving overall wellness, strengthening the immune system, and keeping the mind sharp.
With so many health benefits associated with these traditional practices, more people are taking notice and incorporating these into their routines.
Poses of Yoga
A wide variety of yoga styles are present to choose from. The main task is to choose one depending on your current fitness level and your aim – do you want to do yoga to boost your health, reduce stress, gain strength, or relieve pain?
Once you have the answer to this question, you’ll know which practice is right for you. Go through the six different types of yoga and their health benefits to know more about them.
➢ Anusara
Anusara is a modern-day version of Hatha yoga that focuses on alignment. But the mind-body-heart connection is key here and encourages you to uplift yourself, experience the grace, and let the inner goodness shine through.
This type of yoga focuses on the spinal and how the body should be moving.
➢ Ashtanga
Ashtanga or eight-limb path is a rigorous style of yoga that follows a certain sequence of postures. It is important to perform the exact same poses in the exact same sequence always.
Ashtanga is quite physically challenging so it is not meant for beginners or those not in great physical shape. This yoga rejuvenates your body, makes it toned, and develops physical strength.
➢ Bikram
Introduced by the yoga guru Bikram Choudhury, this type consists of a collection of 26 poses done in a certain order in a room heated to 40 C.
This is wildly popular and the heat makes you sweat excessively; thus, getting your body free of all toxins and flowing oxygenated blood to all your internal organs.
➢ Hatha
Hatha yoga is a standard term that involves most of the styles based on physical practice. It is quite suitable for beginners as the pace is quite slower than the rest of the styles. This practice is very useful in boosting flexibility, strength, and balance.
➢ Restorative
As the name suggests, this type of yoga is meant to relax and rejuvenate. Through this practice, you can tap your parasympathetic nervous system to truly relax your body and mind.
Those struggling with anxiety, sleeping disorders, or stress-related illnesses should give restorative yoga a try.
➢ Vinyasa
This is the most athletic-style yoga involving a number of yoga postures and is quite physically demanding. Vinyasa is great if you want to tone your body as it focuses on your core and upper body and provides you with a cardio workout.
Health Benefits of Yoga
Are you looking for some healthy reasons to try yoga? Different yoga poses are there which can be practiced to maintain balance, endurance, and physical strength.
From improved strength to a better immune system, the following health benefits of yoga can all be discovered within the body:
- Relieves Stress: Yoga is an amazing stress buster known for its ability to promote relaxation. Multiple studies have demonstrated that yoga can reduce the secretion of cortisol – the primary stress hormone. During yoga practice, the concentration of the mind shifts from the matter at hand, thereby lowering the levels of stress, anxiety, and depression along with improving quality of life and mental health.
- Decreases Inflammation: Inflammation is a common immune response, but chronic inflammation may add to the development of pro-inflammatory illnesses, such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. Studies have shown that people who practice yoga regularly have reduced inflammation.
- Improves Heart Health: From pumping blood throughout the body to providing important nutrients to the tissues, the heart is vital to overall health. According to some studies, yoga may help boost heart health and decrease several risk factors for heart disease. Yoga is known for lowering blood pressure and slowing the heart rate which can help people with high blood pressure.
- Boosts Quality of Life: Yoga has become more and more famous as an adjunct method to improve the quality of life for many individuals. Studies have shown that practicing yoga can significantly improve the quality of life while decreasing the symptoms of chemotherapy in cancer patients. It also helps to boost sleep quality, improve spiritual well-being, raise social function, and lessen the symptoms of anxiety and depression.
- Promotes Better Sleep: Yoga has a significant effect on depression, obesity, stress, anxiety, and chronic pain – all common contributors to sleep issues. Incorporating yoga into your routine could help improve sleep quality and duration, reduce sleep disturbances, and lessens the need for sleep medications. A study has also shown that yoga increases the secretion of melatonin – a hormone that balances sleep and wakefulness.
Health experts recommend that an average person should get 7-9 hours of sleep each night for optimal health and physical performance. Also, most studies say that sufficient sleep will boost memory performance.
- Improves Balance, Flexibility, and Posture: As with age, flexibility normally decreases, especially if you are not physically active. Better flexibility is one of the most obvious benefits of yoga, bringing a range of motion to tight areas. By practicing some specific poses that target flexibility, the overall performance can be optimized. With regular practice, you’ll find that the overall balance of the body improves and raises your posture, making you more confident and healthier.
- Promotes Healthy Eating Habits: Intuitive eating is a concept that involves being present in the moment and paying attention to the food and sensations while eating. This practice promotes healthy eating habits that aid in controlling blood sugar, handling disordered eating behaviors, and increasing weight loss. Those with or without disordered eating behaviors can get help in developing healthy eating habits by practicing mindfulness through yoga.
- Increases Strength: Besides improving flexibility, yoga is considered an amazing addition to your exercise routine, thanks to its strength-building advantages. There are various poses in yoga that are designed to boost strength and build muscles. Those who practice such poses can experience a great improvement in upper body strength, weight loss, and endurance.
- Maintains Nervous System: Regular practice of yoga results in the balance of the nervous system which brings about a more positive approach to life. The calm effect from the meditation that is incorporated into the yoga practice leads to an overall calming of the nervous system. More calmness means lower blood pressure and stress and a healthier approach to life.
- Lowers Cholesterol: Yoga practice is quite useful in combating harmful cholesterol levels. This practice helps in reducing cholesterol through increased blood circulation and burning fat. Performing yoga regularly can help balance the flow of energy in the body, reduce weight, and calibrate the digestive system. Weight reduction and relieving mental stress can do wonders for the cholesterol levels in the body.
- Fights Against Cancer: Those suffering or recovering from cancer frequently take the advantages that yoga provides. Cancer patients who consistently practice yoga experience increased growth of red blood cells, less nausea during chemotherapy, and better overall well-being.
- Fosters Mental Calmness: When practicing yoga, concentrating on what your body is doing has the effect of bringing calmness to your mind. With this, you get introduced to different meditation techniques which can be very useful in intense situations.
- Relieves Back Pain: Those who suffer from persistent back pain can practice yoga once or twice a week to get relief from pain and discomfort. Stretching poses and exercises combined with better core strength help in improving the agility and flexibility of rigid muscles, reducing back pain.
- Regulates Digestion: Yoga is a simple solution for people experiencing persistent constipation or indigestion. There are various yoga poses and positions that aid in the massage and squeezing of internal organs, basically helping with the movement of food and its digestion. Also, yoga stimulates the lymphatic system which helps in flushing out the toxins, making your body cleaner.
- Combat Diabetes: Routine yoga practice can aid in lowering the sugar level in the blood together with reducing blood pressure and keeping a check on weight. This way, the progression of diabetes slows down, and also the severity of further complications reduces. Another cause of diabetes is stress which increases the secretion of glucagon hormones and blood glucose levels in the body. The consistent practice of yoga helps in reducing the stress in the mind and body which in turn lowers the insulin levels and glucagon.
- Helps with Asthma: Yoga is a favorable practice for those suffering from asthma. According to some research performed, adults suffering from mild asthma who did an 8-week yoga session combined with their medications showed great improvement. Yoga focuses on breathing techniques that have been shown to be highly effective against asthma.
Recent studies say Yoga helps effectively with Asthma. It improves your breathing by opening chest muscles. Yoga also allows for stress relief and muscle relief when done regularly. This will not only help individuals with Asthma but it will also help individuals without Asthma lead a healthy lifestyle.
- Changes the Mood: Yoga has a strong association with emotional health boosts. Studies have shown that yoga aids in boosting cognitive-behavioral performance and is useful in dealing with anxiety, insomnia, depression, and mood swings. Performing yoga along with others also stimulates the creation of oxytocin – a love hormone – and also generates higher serotonin levels – the happy hormone. When combined, these hormones greatly boost somebody’s mood.
- Treats Migraine: Yoga is useful for fighting off the pain of a migraine. Some yoga moves alleviate migraines by relaxing the tension in your neck and shoulder muscles which can be misaligned due to hunching over the laptop all day long.
- Increases Lifespan: It is clear that performing yoga every day can help you increase your level of fitness, maintain your heart rate, relieve your stress, and make you a healthier, happier, and a confident person. All those elements may add valuable years to your life; thus, increasing your lifespan.
- Better Respiratory System: Similar to the circulatory system, a reduced respiratory rate is an indication that the lungs are working quite efficiently. Yoga decreases the respiratory rate with some controlled breathing exercises and better fitness. Also, yoga is ideal for treating chronic bronchitis as it raises the oxygen levels in the body and provides energy.
- Supports the Immune System: Yoga is quite helpful in decreasing the stress hormones that badly affect the immune system and calming the nervous system at the same time. Those who practice yoga frequently tend to have a stronger immune system than those who don’t do.
- Provides Better Sex Life: Yoga is able to improve your sex life both mentally and physically. It reduces fatigue, stress, and poor self-image which can greatly impact your libido. There are various studies that have shown yoga can boost digestion, improve core abdominal muscles, strengthen the pelvic floor, and improve mood.
Final Thoughts
Various studies have confirmed that there are many physical and mental health benefits of yoga. By incorporating it into your daily routine, you can boost your health, improve flexibility and strength, and decrease symptoms of anxiety, stress, and depression.
Finding some spare time to practice yoga a few times in a week may be enough to make an observable difference in your health and lifestyle.