WHY EVERYONE SHOULD DO YOGA

Yoga is about being at one with the body and mind through breathing techniques, postures and meditations.

Since I began to practice yoga, I have seen noticeable progression in my overall strength and fitness ability, as well as improvements in my stress levels and my sleeping patterns.

So what is it about yoga that really benefits the body? Below are 8 reasons why everyone should practice Yoga:

1. Improves your Physical State

Yoga works to help improve your flexibility, strength and balance. By practicing yoga you will find an increased improvement on your total fitness levels and in other workouts that you do.

2. Acts as a De-Stresser

In yoga, you are encouraged to leave all of your stress and worries ‘outside the door’ so that you can shift your focus on your breathing and the energy going into each position. With each out breath, you are encouraged to relax further into each pose.

3. Reduces Back Pain

Due to the careful twists and full body moves, yoga works to loosen and strengthen muscles around your body. Research suggests that with back pain, yoga can be more effective than regular treatments.

4. Aids Fertility

Stress plays a big part in problems couples come across when trying to conceive. Due to this, yoga has become a go to form of exercise for couples to decrease their levels of stress and therefore increase their chances of having a baby.

5. Helps with a Hangover

When you have had a heavy night, exercising is probably the last thing you want to be doing the morning after, however certain postures and body rotations practiced in Yoga work to increase your metabolism and detox your body, which in turn makes you feel much more fresh and revived afterwards.

6. Fights Heart Disease

Yoga gets all of the blood flowing throughout the body, which is extremely healthy for the heart and plays a role in reducing the risk of heart problems and heart disease. It has also been shown in recent studies, that yoga can also help to improve the health of patients who already have heart disease.

7. Eases Asthma

The strong and rhythmic breathing exercises in yoga, have been known to improve people’s symptoms of asthma.

8. Kicks Insomnia

Yoga as a whole calms the body and the mind through the deep breaths and resting postures, which helps relax the body into sleep. When I suffered with very broken sleep, I would lie down and consciously relax each part of my body; starting with my toes, up to my feet, ankles, knees etc and I would take long, deep breaths in and out. With each breath, I would find my body relaxing a little bit further and within a couple of minutes I was drifting back to sleep.

So next time you find yourself with 20 minutes of time to spare, go onto Steff Whites site (http://www.steffyoga.com/ ) and follow one of her quick yoga videos. It will make you feel so good afterwards and could be all you need to unwind and de-stress after a busy day.

Happy workout!