How Yoga Can Help Achieve Healthy Hair And Skin

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We’ve known forever that yoga promotes holistic health–it doesn’t only strengthen the body but also improves one’s emotional and mental wellbeing. The postures can help build your flexibility while allowing you to connect to your inner self on a spiritual level. But perhaps one of yoga’s significant benefits is its ability to make the skin and hair healthy.

This post will break down how yoga promotes healthy skin and hair, together with the different poses that boost blood circulation and facilitate detoxification.

SEE ALSO: 5 Favorable Benefits That Yoga Can Provide For Your Mental Health

Poses that boost circulation

There are specific asanas or yoga postures that help increase blood circulation in the facial area. These positions facilitate the entry of oxygen into the body, resulting in glowing skin. Here are some examples:

• Cobra pose – This reclining back-bending position strengthens abdominal muscles and is beneficial for toning uterine muscles. Stay in place for 15 to 30 seconds while maintaining even breathing. To come down, exhale, and drop your head to the floor while lowering your body using your arms.
• Fish pose – This back-bending position stretches the front of the body, engaging the chest, hip flexors, abs, and neck. Maintain the pose for 15 to 30 seconds, pressing actively through your heels. Then, lower your legs to the floor while exhaling. Finally, lay your torso and head on the floor.
• Plough (or Plow) pose – This is an inverted position that stretches the shoulders and spine. Hold the pose for five minutes and then release by supporting your back with your hands, slowly rolling down, and bending your knees if you need to.
• Shoulder stand pose – This is an inverted position that increases circulation by reversing blood flow so that when you stand back up, a new wave of blood shoots through your body. Maintain the pose for around 30 seconds. You can gradually add five to 10 seconds every day or so until you can comfortably hold it for three minutes. To release, exhale, bend your knees into your torso, and roll your back torso slowly onto the floor.
• Triangle pose – This is a standing position that helps tone the legs and increase stability. Maintain the position for up to one minute and then release while breathing in, pressing firmly through your left heel as you lift your torso. Then, lower your arms and turn to the left, reversing the position of your feet and repeating for the same length of time on the opposite side.
• Child pose – This is a resting position that stretches the thighs, hips, and ankles. To come up, lengthen your front torso, and then inhale as you lift from the tailbone. Hold for 30 seconds to a few minutes and then release.

Poses that facilitate detoxification

Some asanas also allow for detoxification, helping flush out toxins in the body. Aside from increasing the skin’s flexibility, they also help reduce stress hormones, preventing the formation of pimples and acne. In this sense, yoga is one way to achieve youthful skin.

Here are some yoga poses that facilitate detoxification:

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• Sun Salutation pose – This position promotes healthy skin by improving metabolism and enhancing blood circulation. You can start with five cycles a day, gradually increasing it to 11.
• Lotus position – This cross-legged sitting pose aligns your entire body, helping keep your balance. You can hold the position for at least 20 minutes.
• Downward Dog pose – This is an inversion asana that works to strengthen the core and improve circulation. Hold the pose for at least one minute and then release.
• Bow pose – This back-bending position opens the chest and stretches the back. Stay in the position for roughly 15 seconds while focusing on stretching, breathing, and balancing. Then, exhale and release.
• Corpse pose – In this position, you imitate a corpse by keeping your body still. By remaining motionless while calming your mind, you learn to relax. Hold the pose for five to 10 minutes, and then breathe deeply to come out.

Poses that enhance hair growth

There are two ways yoga may enhance hair growth. The first is by facilitating relief from stress. When you do the poses, you reduce the levels of serum cortisol in your body. This helps ease anxiety, which results in the formation of healthy hair. The second is by encouraging blood flow to the head. When the cells in the scalp area receive more oxygen, your hormonal levels become balanced. As a result, your hair grows at a stable rate. Some asanas that promote hair growth include:

• Standing forward bend pose – This pose stimulates blood flow to the scalp, helping reduce stress and anxiety, improving hair thickness.
• Camel pose – This position also accelerates direct blood flow to the scalp, encouraging thickness in the dermal papilla cells in the hair follicles.
• Diamond pose – This posture tunes in the digestive system, helping boost hair growth. It also induces the hair growth cycle, promoting hair formation.
• Raised legs pose – This targets the reproductive organs, which affect hair formation. It balances hormones across the body to ensure hair is growing steadily.
• Breathing exercises and meditation – These asanas help cool the body, keeping it working properly and setting up your system so it can grow hair consistently.

The benefits of breathing exercises and meditation

Pranayamas or breathing exercises and meditation are significant components of yoga practice. They help flush excess carbon dioxide from the body, allowing cell-energizing oxygen to enter and improve blood circulation, minimizing stress. This effect is similar to what you achieve when you use vitamin C serum, which gives you glowing skin.

Sheetali (Cooling Breath) and Sheetkari (Hissing Breath) are some breathing exercises that help detoxify the body and increase the supply of oxygen. These techniques help improve the appearance of the skin by retaining its glow. Meanwhile, with meditation, you detoxify not only your body but also your mind, resulting in increased clarity and focus. Ultimately, it helps you get rid of unwanted energies, leading to less negativity and a better connection with yourself, both of which allow you to be more productive.

Experience the power of yoga

Yoga combines poses, breathing exercises, and meditation that benefit one’s mental and physical health. When you do the poses, you build your muscle strength and improve your flexibility while developing inner awareness. These holistic benefits allow you to radiate with confidence and positivity, enabling you to live a stress-free life.