At the start of the pandemic, I began doing yoga as a way of getting some exercise in with all of the gyms having recently closed and, let’s face it, I figured it was as good a time as any to try something new. (I have zero artistic talent, so I knew trying out different crafts was not going to be happening.) As I started practicing more frequently, I realized a couple things. Firstly, I realized that I was embarrassingly inflexible, but secondly, I realized that I genuinely loved practicing yoga! It became something that I practiced a lot throughout lockdown and have continued to do as the lockdowns lifted and life has started to go back to (somewhat) normal. As such, I’ve created a list of some of the main reasons why I personally have loved practicing yoga in the hopes of inspiring others like yourself to give it a shot!
1. Mental Health Benefits
With the COVID pandemic about to reach its third birthday, I think it’s safe to say that we all have had a lot on our plates these past few years. Yoga is a great way to relax, destress, and clear your mind from everything that’s going on in your life. A major component of any yoga practice is to focus on your breath, making conscious movements on both inhales and exhales. The bigger, deeper breaths that you take, the more it can help your body to relax. This helps with stress management as well as guiding yourself to be more mindful of what you’re feeling in your body and even more mindful of the thoughts running through your head. Not surprisingly, the American Osteopathic Association also lists body awareness (something that is an important aspect of mindfulness and meditation) as an important benefit of practicing yoga. Practicing yoga is extremely beneficial for both your body and your mind.
2. Perfect for Everybody
In comparison to exercising on a machine where the number of calories burned is displayed right in front of you, yoga offers a great opportunity to practice joyful movement, or moving your body to feel good rather than to burn calories or change your body. Practicing joyful movement, particularly yoga, is a great form of self care because of how restorative it can be and how it helps you to learn to appreciate your body for all that it does for you. AnyBODY can practice yoga regardless of stereotypes – as the saying goes, if you’ve got a body then you’ve got a yoga body!
Another great benefit of yoga not being done on a machine is that it can be done anywhere! Gym culture has the potential to be really toxic for many different reasons, with one example stemming from our largely fat-phobic society. Society has a tendency to shame people in larger bodies for simply being in larger bodies, telling them (amongst other things) to go to the gym and lose weight. But yet, people in larger bodies are often ridiculed for being in the gym anyway, and so they may not want or feel comfortable enough to exercise in a public gym. While this example relating to fatphobia is particularly relevant to people in larger bodies, the feeling of being uncomfortable in the gym is a universal experience that almost everyone has experienced to some degree. Given all of this, it’s nice to find a form of movement that you like and that can be done outside of the gym.
3. A Form of Exercise I Actually Enjoy
Who else does not understand (or for that matter, cannot even comprehend) what a “runner’s high” feels like? If you’re like me and do not like to run for any more than five minutes, you’ll understand the challenge of finding other forms of exercise that you actually enjoy. Some people really like weight-lifting, pilates, cycling, etc., or even a wide mix of exercises! Yoga is a great exercise to try out when you’re in this position, or if you’re simply just looking to add something else into your exercise routine. There are so many different kinds of yoga, ranging from very restorative like a yin yoga practice to very intense practices like vinyasa flow yoga. Your yoga practice can be adapted to whatever fitness level you’re currently at and whatever your body needs that day. This is part of the reason I personally really like yoga and I’ve found that the variety also helps me stay interested. Doing the same routine every single time you exercise can get boring and make you less interested in exercising at all. Also, it’s good to change up your exercise routine every now and again so your body can be challenged in new ways!
4. I Feel Strong in My Body
When people think of yoga, they tend to think of the phenomenon that often occurs with low impact exercises like walking – where the form of movement is perceived as something that can’t count as a “real” exercise. In reality, walking is an amazing exercise that is accessible for everyone because it is low impact and requires no machines or props. The health benefits of walking are numerous, but they often get overlooked as walking tends to be dismissed as not a “real” exercise/workout. This is the same thing that tends to happen with yoga, not seeing it as something that is “hard” enough to classify as what is commonly thought of as a workout. However, I am here to say that this is not true at all! While there are forms of very restorative, gentle yoga, there are also types of yoga that will have you sweating like crazy! I find that I can get a very good workout in through a yoga practice because the physical benefits of yoga are quite similar to what you’d get from a more traditional workout. These benefits include an improvement in strength, flexibility, balance, cardiovascular health, athletic performance, and protection from injury. I’ve been able to notice some of these benefits in myself since I started practicing yoga, particularly an increase in my overall strength and flexibility levels!
5. A Fun Activity To Do With Friends and Family
Exercise as a whole can be a lot more fun when you’re doing it in good company. I’ve found that practicing yoga with my friends and family is a great way to spend time with the people you care about while also getting some movement in at the same time. All you need is enough space for each person’s mat and a laptop or TV if you like to follow along with guided online classes. You can also try signing up for in person yoga classes together! There are plenty of yoga studios in the East Lansing area if you are interested.
Make sure to move your body in ways that make YOU feel good! That may not be yoga for you, but if you haven’t tried it before, I would highly suggest giving it a shot! (Or even trying out different kinds of yoga that you haven’t tried before – for example, you may not like yin yoga but find you love vinyasa flow yoga.)
If you do choose to give it a shot, or just want someone new to practice with, check out one of my favorite yoga instructors on YouTube by clicking here or searching up “Yoga with Kassandra”. She has all the yoga you could want, including anywhere from 5 minute sessions to 90 minute sessions, vinyasa to ashtanga to yin yoga, morning and evening specific practices, and more. You can find yoga mats as well as props like blocks or straps pretty much anywhere online, and good yoga mats should last you a long time.
I hope this article was helpful and that you enjoy practicing yoga as much as I do!
Sources:
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/9-benefits-of-yoga