The practice of yoga is thousands of years old, but has endured and evolved because of its physical and mental benefits. Find out what yoga can do for you, with as little practice as a few minutes each day.
Learn more about the biggest reasons to try yoga, and how to use to improve your health and well-being, even if you’re not interested in the spiritual aspects of it. The wide variety of yoga schools provides plenty of chances to pick the right type of yoga for your lifestyle.
1. Stress Reduction
One of the most important benefits of yoga is improving your stress management skills. Focusing on the present can help you relax and reduce stress hormone levels. By letting go of the outside world as you practice yoga, you’ll also be able to develop a better focus, alongside all the benefits of stress reduction, which include a boost to your immune system.
2. Weight Loss
Getting to your target weight and sticking to it is achieved by burning more calories than you’re eating, but that doesn’t mean that only vigorous exercise helps. One of the best reasons to try yoga is the fact that it can aid you in your weight loss efforts, whether you go for a more demanding type, like hot yoga, or the more traditional flow yoga.
3. Pain Management
Whether you’re dealing with chronic pain or just neck or back pain caused by sitting at your desk for too long, yoga can help. Many yoga poses can help you strengthen your muscles and relax. Practicing the right type of yoga can help you manage pain or even get rid of it altogether quickly if you’re only having temporary issues.
4. Increased Flexibility
By working out your core muscles, yoga can improve mobility. Wanting more flexibility is definitely one of the best reasons to try yoga. Most types of yoga can help you get better muscle control and can also increase the elasticity of your tendons and ligaments if you practice the right poses regularly. The practice of yoga can also increase flexibility that’s been reduced by pain.
More: Yoga Poses for Better Sleep
5. Confidence Boost
While the stress reduction benefit of yoga can help you get more focused, it can also result in a confidence boost. Learning to relax and really get in touch with your body and mind can have great effects on your self-esteem, allowing you to discover a more confident side of yourself. By practicing yoga, you’ll also benefit from reduced anxiety, which is especially important if you’re struggling with depression or you’re just going through a rough time.
6. Healthier Eating
If weight loss is one of the reasons to try yoga, then you’ll be happy to know that yoga poses do more than just burn calories. Once you start practicing it regularly, you’ll be a lot less likely to overindulge in junk food or use food as a stress management tool.
7. Cardiovascular Benefits
Lowering your blood pressure and heart rate are just some of the cardiovascular benefits of yoga. Regular practice of yoga can also improve circulation, which is especially important if you’re suffering from type 2 diabetes, and it can also contribute to better oxygenation while you’re working out.
8. Better Posture
Even if you don’t need increased flexibility or pain management, one of the reasons to try yoga is the fact that it can help you maintain a better posture. All types of yoga include a wide variety of poses that help you tone every muscle in your body and improve body alignment.
9. Improved Quality of Sleep
Yoga’s power to relax you and lower levels of cortisol, the primary stress hormone, is very beneficial when you’re dealing with sleep issues. Practicing a few poses before going to bed can help you unwind and get in a restful mood, increasing the quality of your sleep by relaxing both your body and mind.
Don’t miss: Best Yoga for Weight Loss
10. Quick Results
In order to get the most benefits of yoga, you don’t have to commit to a schedule similar to working out at the gym. One of the reasons to try yoga is that you can start noticing the positive effect it has on your body with just 5 minutes every day. If you’re planning on losing weight or dealing with pain issues, you might need more, but you don’t have to commit to a demanding schedule.
