Yoga Health Benefits: Find Your Way to Wellness

Although far from being a new discipline, yoga only recently experienced an explosion of popularity in Western countries. It seems that many people are practicing some type of yoga and talking about the health benefits. This article by coach and guest author, Alisa, explores the health benefits of yoga with you.

7 Health Benefits of Yoga

Let me tell you about the health benefits of yoga that I learned about.  Most of these I experienced myself.  I don’t know why I was so resistant to it before. Also, yoga complements my harder workouts, like running and resistance training.

Yoga is truly for everyone.  I encourage you to try it too.

1. Yoga Improves Mental Health

At first, I really didn’t understand the link between yoga and mental health. But then it hit me and I knew it could help ease my stress and heal my mind. The philosophy of yoga is that the mind and body work as a whole.

In this busy and crazy world, the body and mind can disconnect and work against each other.  As a result, we become more stressed, anxious, depressed, and our mental health suffers.

Practicing yoga, on the other hand, helps you to get connected and centered again. By combining gentle physical exercises with special breathing techniques and meditation, you allow your body to reconnect with your mind. And as your mind relaxes and opens, your body also unwinds. As a result, you can take back control of your emotions, ease anxiety, and sleep better. And, you become better at handling the stress in your life. 

2. Yoga Builds Strength

Perhaps, like me, you think that building strength requires you to hit the gym and engage in weightlifting. If someone proposed yoga, you’d chortle, thinking, “I’ll pass!”, right? Well, you’d be wrong, just like I was. While yoga will not turn you into Arnold Schwarzenegger, it can significantly improve your strength.

3. Yoga Increases Flexibility

Yoga does even more for your body. It also improves your flexibility and balance. So if you combine it with a bit of weightlifting, you can get closer to being something like Bruce Lee. Wouldn’t that be splendid?

Another great thing about yoga is that it will enable you to be much fitter and firmer.

4. Yoga Improves Digestion

Are you feeling bloated after each meal regardless of what you eat? Have you tried some remedies, but nothing worked?  Perhaps consider trying yoga for digestive health.

There are postures (asanas) that stimulate the stomach, intestines, and liver.  Yoga can create harmony between these digestive organs. The movements can help stimulate your stomach and intestines.  In this way, yoga can help improve digestion.  Yoga can help relieve bloating, cramping, indigestion, and constipation.

5. Yoga Relieves Back Pain

There is a lot of evidence about the effects of yoga on back health. Plenty of postures are designed to stretch and strengthen muscles that support the back and the spine.

Besides, yoga also teaches you to listen to your body. That means that you can feel when a position puts a strain on your back. You can then change or modify the pose. However, you have to make sure to do the asanas correctly, especially if you already have a bad back.

6. Yoga Lessens Chronic Pain

Yoga is also known to be very efficient for relieving pain. People with arthritis, fibromyalgia, migraine, and other chronic pain syndromes can all benefit from doing breath control, meditation and asanas.  Yoga helps people with chronic pain improve their daily lives, mood and overall well-being.

7. Yoga Reduces Inflammation

Chronic inflammation can lead to a weakened immune system, heart disease, diabetes and even cancer.  Yoga may reduce the level of inflammation in your body.  Right after a yoga session, your immune system is stronger and inflammation is lower. 

Yoga simply makes you healthier.

Yoga for Women

There are many benefits of yoga for women’s health. First, it helps women have a much better idea of their body and develop a greater sense of general well being. Also, yoga helps you to regulate blood sugar, maintain a healthy weight, and improves hormonal balance. All these are necessary to reduce the risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

Yoga for Men

Men are probably the most reluctant group of people when it comes to practicing yoga. They tend to think it is something old people and women do. Of course, not all men think this, but a lot do.  And it is a misconception.

There are numerous benefits of men’s health yoga. I hope those who don’t believe this, at least try it for a while.  Men who include yoga in their training improve the range of motion necessary for other exercises. As yoga improves flexibility and balance, doing some of the postures will contribute significantly to injury prevention.

Yoga for Cancer

For those diagnosed with cancer, yoga can be a powerful tool in helping you regain strength after treatments.  It can also help with flexibility after surgery. And during treatments, yoga can also help minimize side effects.  This includes one of the most common side effects, fatigue.  Yoga has proven beneficial in those suffering from cancer related fatigue. 

Final Take

The most important thing that I want to say about yoga is that it raises your awareness.  It allows you to focus on your mental and physical abilities in a specific moment of time. It strengthens both your body and your mind.  Yoga makes you healthier and stabilizes your emotions. When I realized this, I stopped being surprised at why it became so popular. For many of us, health yoga provides shelter from our stressful lives.

If you still think yoga is not for you, consider that there are many different types of yoga. Try to get as much information as possible about each of them.  I am sure you will probably find a type of yoga that attracts you.