Yoga has increased in popularity within the past few years, and it is no surprise why. Yoga offers a variety of health benefits and essentially anyone can incorporate the practice of yoga into their daily lives. Below are several reasons why yoga is beneficial:
1. Yoga is for everyone
It genuinely does not matter if you can stand on your head and bend your body in all sorts of ways or if you are on the other side of the spectrum and have never seen a yoga mat. Yoga is a study that can be picked up by anyone at essentially any time of their life.
There is a huge variety of yoga, making it easy to pick up the type that is right for you. There is yoga for relaxation and meditation, yoga to increase flexibility and strength, yoga to increase your heart rate, and many more. There are also different levels of yoga, geared towards beginners, advanced students, and students who fall somewhere in between.
2. Encourages a healthy lifestyle
While yoga is a form of working out, that is not its only focus. Practicing yoga gives people the ability to maintain a healthy mental lifestyle, as well. Incorporating meditation and intense focus on breathing in yoga allows people to find inner peace in the midst of their chaotic lives.
3. Helps balance
Many yoga poses focus on improving balance. Yoga can help an individual feel more balanced off the mat, as well. Poses such as Half-moon and Tree Pose that require focus and balance can transfer to creating a sense of balance in an individual’s everyday life, as well.
4. Increases flexibility, muscle strength, and endurance
Even in the most basic yoga class, remaining in the poses for an extended period of time allows people to build muscle and endurance. Yoga is frequently recommended to athletes for this reason. Yoga also incorporates many poses to help stretch the muscles and increase flexibility, particularly in the legs and back.
5. Alleviates pain
In everyday life, people frequently hold tension in their bodies, slouch, and many other things that inadvertently cause pain. Yoga focuses on releasing that tension in the body. Yoga also incorporates lengthening of the back into many poses; after sitting at a desk, working at a computer, and a variety of other daily activities, the muscles in the back need lengthened to relieve pain. Not only this, but yoga focuses on perfecting posture. Many of the poses in yoga reinforce the muscles around the spine and the core, helping improve posture, and in turn alleviating pain around the back, neck, and shoulders.
6. Teaches the importance of breath
In every yoga practice, the most important aspect of it is to remain focused on the breath. It teaches you to breathe evenly and deeply, generating more oxygen to the body. This type of breath can and should be used in everyday life. Shallow breathing does not get the amount of oxygen necessary to the organs, and practicing yoga can help eliminate this habit.
7. Helps manage stress
Finally, and possibly most importantly, yoga is a wonderful way to manage stress. It allows you to step back from everyday life and simply relax. The combination of deep breathing, relaxing and rejuvenating poses, and the emphasis of focusing on the present moment all help eliminate stress from the body. Who would object to feeling more relaxed after a long day of work or school?
The reasons listed above are just a sprinkling of the vast benefits that regularly practicing yoga can offer. The health benefits related to yoga are enormous; why not start promoting a healthy, stress-free lifestyle by trying a yoga class and seeing if it is for you?
Yoga is offered for free every Monday and Wednesday at 6:30 pm in the Student Center Gym.