Yoga
PHYSICAL YOGA BENEFITS
1. YOGA DEVELOPS STRENGTH
If you’re looking to increase strength and build lean muscle mass, yoga is a great option. Instead of lifting weights for your strength training, yoga uses your own body weight to help build muscle.
2. YOGA IMPROVES FLEXIBILITY
Most Yoga classes will increase your flexibility as you learn to bring yourself to your edge and go deeper into the stretches and poses within the yoga sequence.
3. YOGA INCREASES BALANCE
Finding balance both physically and mentally is a requirement for many of the poses that are held throughout a yoga sequence. When you go to hold a balancing pose in yoga it is useful to find a point of focus where the gaze rests (drishti).
MENTAL BENEFITS
1. YOGA BENEFITS CONCENTRATION AND FOCUS
The practice of yoga asanas requires physical concentration as you learn to bring your focus to your breath and move through a sequence of poses. Bringing in an awareness of your body and breath is a useful tool that can be used off the mat as you increase your concentration in your day-to-day activities.
2. YOGA GIVES CLARITY AND CALMS THE MIND
As you learn to concentrate on your breath during your yoga practice, you will also bring your awareness to the present moment – releasing thoughts about the past and future. This practice is one that is developed over time, however, clarity and calmness of the mind is often developed when we can release the nagging thoughts that come from our busy lives.
3. YOGA BENEFITS IN REDUCING YOUR ANXIETY
According to a study on the effects of meditation, when we engage in meditative practices we are actually rewiring the neural pathways in our brain. As you meditate, the neural connections between these two areas of the brain begin to loosen.
