Yoga is renowned for its ability to unite the body, mind, and spirit, which is related to the belief that both mind and body are one, and that bodies are able to reach perfect harmony enabling them to heal themselves.
Over recent years, it’s popularity has increased, and now a total of around 6 million Americans have experienced the wonderful benefits of yoga. People who practice yoga become more aware of the functioning of their body, including their posture, the way they move, and their body’s alignment. People who practice yoga generally become more happier, healthier, more peaceful, more centered and relaxed, less stressed, and more energetic.
At the beginning of a class there are usually mild stretching exercises and breathing, which assists mental as well as physical preparation. In general sessions are conducted by performing the yoga poses (or asanas) either individually or in vinyasana (which means they are linked in flows). The class concludes with meditation and relaxation in a pose known as the corpse pose, or shavasana.
There are several forms of which can be practiced. Generally different forms of yoga produce different benefits. For example, Iyengar is for correct bodily alignment, and often utilizes props (including blocks, straps, or cushions). Bikram is also known as hot yoga, as it’s performed in a heated room. It generally consists of a set of 26 poses done in a particular order. These are both forms of Hatha yoga and are commonly practiced in the US, as they focus on the use of strengthening and breathing exercises.
What can yoga do for you? Firstly, it is extremely beneficial in the promotion of excellent flexibility, and is also excellent for circulation and development of muscle strength. However, the benefits extend beyond the physical, by promoting relaxation and calm. One of the basic tenets is that it helps to balance all areas of a person’s life by improving physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
While it has been practiced for thousands of years, more recently it’s also been the subject of scientific studies. Through these studies, modern medicine has demonstrated the practice of yoga to be beneficial. The health benefits of yoga have been studied, through both the asanas and pranayama (breathing). The result is that it benefits the body in three ways, physiological, psychological, and also biochemical.
Some of the physiological benefits include: reduction in pulse and respiratory rate, decrease in blood pressure, increased cardiovascular efficiency, improvement in excretory functions, improvement in hand/eye coordination, normalization of weight, and decrease in pain. The psychological benefits of yoga are just as important and include: mood and subjective well-being increases, anxiety and depression decrease, concentration improves, learning improves, social skills improve, depth perception improves, and self acceptance increases. Finally, the biochemical improvements that yoga promotes include: blood glucose decreases, sodium decreases, HDL cholesterol increases, LDL and VLDL cholesterol decreases, hemoglobin increases, total serum proteins increase, and the total white blood cell count decreases.
Yoga is a simple way of improving overall health, as it can do so much more than other forms of exercise for all over body benefits.
Ana Paula Hernandez began learning basic yoga over twenty years ago, and loved it so much that she ended up making it her life’s work. She believes the key to success is getting the basic yoga poses and yoga postures right.
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