How Yoga Can Change Your Life

The benefits of yoga provides both instant gratification and lasting transformation. For many people, many workouts these days require too much time with too few results and can be incredibly discouraging, while monotonous routines week after week can lead to stagnation. But yoga can improve your physical and mental capacity in no time, many see results after the very first class! 

 Who Should Think About Doing Yoga?

Yoga is for everyone. Most yoga studios and local gyms offer yoga classes that are open to all ages and fitness levels. It doesn't matter if you’re a teenage athlete, a middle-aged mom, or an older gentleman. Even fitness buffs and bodybuilders can find a place for them on the mat. Everyone can feel accepted and included and, unlike other workouts that may worsen a bad knee or back issues, yoga’s low-impact style can actually heal damaged bodies. 

Yoga is not just about working out, it’s about taking control of your mind and body. The practice of yoga allows the body to be still in a world consumed with chaos. Peace and tranquility are achieved through focused training. Of course, slimming down the body, gaining increased control of balance, and centering your mind are big pluses as well.

Studies Show

Yoga’s deep breathing and meditation practices help foster an inner shift from to-do lists, kids' and spouses’ needs, financial concerns, and relational struggles to something a little bit bigger than your daily stressors. Yoga helps relieve stress, unclutters the mind, and helps you achieve a more focused state. In 2004 a Harvard study found that yoga can reduce the impact of exaggerated stress responses and may be helpful for both anxiety and depression. This works because yoga requires a great deal of focus while holding balancing poses. This intense focus acts as a form of meditation that helps unite the mind and body, giving you more control over things like anger management. If you feel the need for extra support, consider searching for 'anger management near me' for various options that provide practical tools for managing emotions effectively. 

 Other Benefits

Another amazing benefit of yoga is that there are so many different types of yoga practices. This means that you can choose a yoga style that is tailored to your lifestyle, such as hot yoga, power yoga, relaxation yoga, prenatal yoga, and more. Whether you prefer to be at home watching a DVD, or in a studio with an instructor, there are a huge variety of options available to suit your goals and needs.

If you are a yoga beginner, Hatha yoga, which focuses on basic postures at a comfortable pace, would be a great place to start. If you want to increase strength by using more of your own body’s resistance, power yoga may be right for you. You can find a great online yoga program at Gaiam Yoga Studio that focuses on Hatha yoga. And if your looking to bring your yoga routine to the next level try Advanced Yoga, or Bikram (also called "hot yoga").

But yoga’s benefits aren’t just for stress relief. Yoga’s focus on strength training and flexibility is an incredible benefit to your body. The postures are meant to strengthen your body from the inside out, so you don’t just look good, you feel good too. Each of the yoga poses is built to reinforce the muscles around the spine, the very core of your body. When the core is working properly, posture is improved, thus alleviating back, shoulder, and neck pain.

An added benefit to doing yoga is that the digestive system gets back on track due to the stretching that yoga involves. This can relieve constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, and acid reflux. Another one of the benefits of yoga is that stretching and the holding of postures also cause muscles to lengthen, which gives the body a longer, leaner look. 

So whether you desire a leaner body, mental stability, physical strength, or just a fun new workout, grab a mat and start your yoga journey today. Trust me, you won't regret it!

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