5 reasons why you should consider doing yoga
While flashy pictures, media, and advertising may have us thinking that yoga is all about physical poses, in reality yoga includes a wide range of contemplative and self-disciplinary practices, such as meditation, chanting, mantra, prayer, breathwork, ritual, and even selfless action.
The scientific research into yoga’s benefits is still somewhat preliminary, but much of the evidence so far supports what practitioners seem to have known for millennia: Yoga is incredibly beneficial to our overall well-being.
Let’s look at 5 of the many benefits of yoga in greater depth.
- Yoga improved flexibility
During the year 2016, a survey was conducted by two of yoga’s leading organizations, Yoga Journal, and Yoga Alliance, which conducted a worldwide survey looking at a variety of statistics about yoga in an attempt to quantify its value amid ever-increasing popularity.
The most cited reason people selected for doing yoga was to “increase flexibility”
Flexibility is an important component of physical health. Yoga poses can help to enhance flexibility as the body is encouraged to hold yoga stretches for a period of time, allowing muscles to go deeper into the stretch. It may sometimes be uncomfortable and can take time to notice the impact of the stretches and greater flexibility.
The best thing is, that you can do yoga in the comfort of your own home. Read more on how to start yoga at home here.
2. Yoga helps with stress relief
Yoga is considered one of many types of complementary and integrative medicine approaches. Yoga brings together physical and mental disciplines that may help you achieve the peacefulness of body and mind. This can help you relax and manage stress and anxiety. Yoga has many styles, forms, and intensities. Hatha yoga, in particular, maybe a good choice for stress management. Hatha is one of the most common styles of yoga, and beginners may like its slower pace and easier movements. But most people can benefit from any style of yoga — it’s all about your personal preferences.
As you become aware of the transitory nature of your bodily sensations, thoughts, and feelings, you may find it easier to let go of attachments to positive, negative, and neutral experiences. You may also learn to cultivate feelings such as love, joy, and serenity.
3. Yoga improved mental health
According to a survey done by the American psychological association, the rate of diagnosed cases of mental disorders increased dramatically due to the pandemic virus — Covid19. Since we saw the need for a platform that lets experts go online and provide their services, Expert Republic was one of the first online platforms to facilitate health and wellness consultants and yoga trainers.
Practicing yoga and staying consistent with it enhances resilience and improves mind-body awareness, which can help people adjust their behaviors based on the feelings they’re experiencing in their bodies. The practice Both movement-based yoga therapies and breathing-based practices have been shown to significantly improve depressive symptoms
Illnesses like Major depressive disorder (MDD) are thought to be one of the most common mental health disorders in the world. But now, Yoga-based treatments have proved very effective and can now be considered as an alternate medication for MDD.
4. Yoga may improve quality of life
The World Health Organization defines the quality of life (QOL) as “an individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards, and concerns”
Factors that may affect QOL are relationships, job satisfaction, learning opportunities, health, and material comforts. A study was done by the University of Harvard Results show that yogic practices enhance muscular strength and body flexibility, promote and improve respiratory and cardiovascular function, promote recovery from and treatment of addiction, reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain, improve sleep patterns, and enhance overall well-being and quality of life.
5. Yoga can promote better posture and body awareness
Yoga’s focus on mobility and flexibility can contribute to better alignment by releasing muscles that are often tight, such as the hamstrings, and improving the mobility of the spine. Yoga poses also emphasize alignment correction of hands, wrists, arms, and shoulders. This sense of proper structural alignment is great for improving posture. As poses are adjusted for optimal positioning, students get in the habit of ideal alignment and are able to hold poses correctly and for longer amounts of time.
This directly corresponds to improved posture over time.
How Expert Republic can help you with home workouts
Home workouts are much easier with Expert Republic. There are more than 18+ health and wellness sessions available for you to choose from! You can simply download the app, select the specific service and hop on a 1–1 or a group video consultation with the expert.
Bottom line
It’s said that there are over 50 benefits of doing yoga. However, we wanted to focus on the most important ones out of the bunch.
Numerous practices fall into the category of yoga, and most do not involve physical activity, instead of focusing on meditation techniques. Even karmic or philanthropic action can qualify as yoga! Because yoga is not limited to physical movement, it’s a practice you can do every day.
Find the modality that works best for you and remember: Investing in a yoga practice is investing in you!
