Top 8 Benefits of Yoga
Widely believed to have originated in ancient India, Yoga is the best practice for physical, mental, and spiritual satisfaction. The purpose of yoga is to build strength, awareness, and harmony in both the mind and the body. The ancient practice is said to bring together the body and the mind with immense benefits for both physical and mental health.
In recent times, Yoga has gained enormous popularity across the globe with billions of people becoming a devoted learner. It is nothing but its sheer acceptance in today’s society that it has been included as part of a curriculum in some of the schools in Nepal.
Today, we have brought top eight benefits of yoga that would surely want to make you learn yoga.
1. Reduce stress
One of the best benefits of yoga is its ability to reduce stress and promote relaxation. Multiple studies have reported that it can decrease the secretion of cortisol—the stress hormone. Regular practice of yoga requires strong concentration skills which will be effective to develop mental clarity and calmness. Practicing yoga will provide you with a much-needed break from your stressors and help put your problems into perspective.
2. Flexibility and balance
Most of the yoga poses or asanas require you to stretch your muscles. When you move your muscles and joints in new ways for a period of time, your body will gain momentum and hence, improves your balance. Even a practice of just 10-15 minutes a day is bound to enhance your performance by improving your flexibility and balance.
3. Good for your heart
Since its inception, Yoga has been famous for boosting good heart condition. Many studies have supported the theory that yoga improves heart health and reduces several risk factors associated with heart ailments. Yoga is one of the best medicines to lower blood pressure and slow heart rate—the two most common causes of heart diseases such as heart attack, stroke, etc.
4. Builds strength
Many of the yoga poses, even the less vigorous styles, provide strength and improve endurance. Usually, almost the majority of the yoga styles require you to hold your body and weight in new different ways which build your core muscles. Holding these poses for over a period of time helps you build your strength.
5. Relieves chronic pain
With the kind of technique, poses, or asanas used in yoga, it is widely suggested that yoga helps to reduce any kind of chronic and joint pain suffered by an individual. Yoga helps in strengthening your joint muscles without injuring them. Even medical professionals recommend doing yoga to help with chronic and joint pain. It is especially beneficial for patients with arthritis.
6. Promotes sleep quality
It has been suggested by many professionals that yoga promotes better sleep. Yoga is known to relieve stress, anxiety, pain, and depression—the most common contributing factors for poor sleep quality. Thus, when your mind will be at peace, your body will be at peace, which acts as a contributory factor for a better and peaceful sleep.
7. Better breathing
Breathing is something that despite being the core reason for our survival does not get much attention. Somehow, we never stop to think if there is a better way to how we breathe that is beneficial for our body and mind. Pranayama or yogic breathing is a popular breathing practice in yoga that focuses on deep breathing techniques. This technique is especially beneficial for those with respiratory illness such as Asthma and COPD as it helps to open up our nasal passageway.
8. Improves quality of life
Yoga has been the most common way to improve the quality of life adapted by many individuals. Several studies have shown that yoga helps to improve sleep quality, reduce chronic pain and fatigue, acts as a stress reliever, and enhances physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, and thus, improves the quality of life.