How Yoga Improves Your Health

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Some may think that doing yoga is all about increasing flexibility and twisting their body into unusual positions. While this can be a component of a yoga practice, the reality is that there is a lot more to yoga, and that there are a lot of ways that it can help improve your physical, mental and emotional health. If you’re interested in some of the ways that yoga could help your overall wellbeing, here are a few things to think about.

Have a Stronger Body and More Energy

A top benefit of yoga is that it can help boost your muscle tone, flexibility, and energy levels, whether you do power yoga or a more relaxing type of yoga. While some postures are more focused on building strength and others are more about increasing flexibility, many poses will help you develop both at the same time. This can help increase your stamina and improve your heart health. The ultimate result is that you will have more feelings of vitality and have more energy throughout the day, especially when your yoga routine is paired with other health boosting measures, like a balanced diet or thrive experience for example.

De-Stress

Another one of the primary benefits of a regular yoga practice is that it can help you blast stress. This is due largely to the fact that yoga requires sustained attention to your breath as your physical movements and sensations. When you put your mind solely on the experience of your breath going in and out, or how your spine feels when you are in the downward dog position, you also block out other thoughts, including stressful ones.

Breathe Deeper

Arguably, breathing is even more important when it comes to yoga than the poses are. A lot of emphasis is often placed on the breath, and how well you breathe in yoga because it helps you to calm your nervous system and connect with your body, which is necessary to perform the postures well. A great benefit of this is that it can help improve your quality of breath off the mat as well. This can be great for those that struggle to get a deep breath, or simply want the increased energy that having optimal lung power can bring.

Improved Digestion

Besides breathing, yoga can be great for your digestion, as well. This is because many yoga poses, like spinal twists, not only help you stretch your muscles, but they also massage your organs, including your digestive system, at the same time. This can be beneficial for those that have a sluggish digestive system, and want to stimulate it, and it can also be great for those who have an overactive digestive system and are looking for a way to calm it.

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Better Sleep

Another way yoga can improve your overall quality of life is by helping you get more restful sleep. Yoga’s power to improve sleep stems from the fact that it can have a very calming effect on the nervous system, no matter what time of day you do it. By relaxing your nervous system and helping reduce stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline that can keep you awake at night, yoga makes it easier for you to relax and slip into restful sleep at night.

Improved Mood

Considering all of the other benefits that yoga can have, it should be no surprise that it can be great for improving your mood, too. This is due in large part to yoga’s ability to help banish stress. Not only can it help reduce stress, though, but it may also be beneficial when it comes to combating more serious or lasting issues like anxiety and depression, as well.

The Bottom Line

Although some may think that yoga is just about contorting your body, the reality is that yoga can be great for your health in many ways, and can improve your overall quality of wellbeing. Whether you do power yoga to boost your muscle tone and energy, or unwind at night with some gentle bedtime routines, yoga can help you make positive changes to your life and health.