Why has yoga become so popular lately? I think it’s been around in the Western culture since late 80′s, but its popularity has grown dramatically in the last couple of decades.
Yoga is the ultimate workout for your body and soul. Some people think of yoga as stretching, which is not entirely true. Yoga is so much more than just sit on your mat and “stretch” so to speak. Yoga is hard work, that’s why it’s so good for you.
Let’s break it down. What are the main benefits of yoga and who should practice yoga.
Yoga
Yoga Benefits For Your Body:
By doing yoga postures, even the basic ones, you constantly working against the gravity. You exercise every single muscle in your body by carrying your own weight. On the other hand you can’t over-do it because you intuitively will not do more than you physically can. As oppose to working with weights. You think that you are ready to step it up and switch to the heavier dumbbells, only to realize that you were wrong. Yoga is such a gentle (yet powerful) exercise, that it’s hard to hurt yourself.
One of the principles of yoga is to learn how to be aware of your own body, to listen to your body and work WITH your body to gain the ultimate benefit from your yoga practice. That’s why you are less likely to injure yourself during yoga practice, because you are also learning how to listen to your body, and you become more aware of your body and how it works.
Yoga Benefits For Your Soul
I can not stress enough how important it is to relax and fill your body with those good endorphins every day. Especially in this fast-pace environment that we live in, it’s crucial for us to stop for s second and unwind. Yoga is the perfect exercise for that. By practicing yoga daily you not only exercise your body, you also work on your nervous system.
Human spine is the most amazingly designed part of our body that carries millions of nerves in its spinal cord. The human spinal cord is a thick cable of highly specialised nervous tissue. It starts at the brain and ends in the spinal canal at about the 2nd lumbar level. The function of the spinal cord is to pass nerve impulses from the brain and back again from the tissues. Any person who has practiced yoga for several years can tell you the amazing difference they feel in their spine and their back in particular. As they say healthy spine – healthy life.
When you practice yoga, you make your spine stronger therefore you make your nervous system stronger and relax your mind.
There’s no better way to start your day than by practicing yoga. Even if it’s a short 20 minute session, you will notice the difference immdiately. Your mind will be clearer and your body will be more at ease.
You are not stiff anymore. The blood is flushing through your body, invigorating and getting you ready to face the new day!
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