If you have wanted to try yoga for the longest time, consider coming across this article as your cue to give the ancient discipline a try finally.
If you are intrigued by the practice, you will be more enticed to give yoga a try once you know all the exceptional benefits it can offer.
For starters:
Yoga helps provide relief from stress
Loosely translated, yoga means “union.”
Specifically, however, it refers to the union of the mind and the body.
Those who have attended yoga classes can attest that the practice gives much focus on staying in the present moment and clearing the mind. And since meditation is considered an integral part of yoga, it can help you let go of worries, stress, and anxieties and be present.
While not everyone is aware of it, stress has been considered a major factor in weight gain. That being said, if you can keep your stress levels in check through yoga, you will not only benefit mentally but it can also make a difference in your waistline as well.
It can help you become more patient
When attempting to execute a challenging yoga pose, you need more than just skill and flexibility—you also need patience—and lots of it!
Some people who join the practice especially athletes still adapt the mentality of pushing themselves beyond their limits. While pushing yourself can be a good thing, it’s not exactly the ideal thing to do when it comes to executing yoga poses.
Essentially, yoga is about respecting your body’s limits and patiently waiting for it to be flexible enough. Also, the patience you will develop from mastering basic poses before doing challenging ones can also translate into your daily life as you to patiently navigate through challenges life throws at you.
It can help improve your balance
Unknown to many, yoga has a lot of balance postures (think: balancing, on the one hand, headstands, etc.) and with good reason.
In part, it is meant to challenge your stability. However, more importantly, yoga promotes balance in other areas of your life as well. Apart from developing the mental clarity to cope with stress effectively, it can also help bring equilibrium to the endocrine system.
Also, other poses that promote relaxation such as the child’s pose can also contribute to minimizing the release of cortisol (an obesity-causing hormone) into the body.
It can help boost your confidence
As you continue with your yoga practice, your self-confidence increases as you become more self-aware. In the same manner, once you can test your body’s boundaries and limits, you will also become more aware of the things you are capable of and more confident when carrying them out.
Also, once you see improvements in what you can do and what you can accomplish, your self-confidence will also naturally improve.
It can help strengthen your body
Many yoga practitioners can attest that even the simplest of poses can do a lot regarding strengthening the body. Advanced yoga poses can also effectively activate several groups of muscles all at once.
Balance poses, on the other hand, have been designed to significantly improve both core and upper body strength. Moreover, just like most fitness regimens, yoga can be very effective at building and toning lean muscles while burning fat at the same time.
Taking into account some of the yoga’s excellent benefits, it is understandable if you can’t wait to give the practice a try. The good thing is, while seemingly intimidating for the uninitiated, yoga is easy given you are dedicated, patient, and willing to learn.
Also, there is no shortage of yoga videos you can watch to help complement your practice so you will be able to reap the full benefits of your practice.