How Yoga Improves Your Health, Reduces Anxiety, and Enhances Your Body.
Yoga is a vast health care system that originated in India and is practiced all over the world.
It's so effective that millions of people turn to this system to relieve stress, improve their mood, enhance focus, and take care of their body.
The practice encompasses mind, body, heart, and Soul. When you think of yoga today, your mind naturally pictures the physical aspect of yoga.
You see someone doing yoga, moving their body through different poses known as asanas and you probably think of it as a way of getting into shape and exercising.
And, you're right. But, yoga, unlike other types of exercise, is about calming your mind, deepening your breath, and connecting with your Self. It's about being in the here and now and taking good care of your health.
Right now, we're in the midst of a pandemic. We've been sheltered in place and working from home for over 2 months. It's a stressful and uncertain time. Yoga can help.
Yoga can help ease the physical tension held by your body; it can ease anxiety that can make your breath shallow and your chest tight. It can help you sleep better at night and teach you how to trigger your body's natural "rest and digest" response to counter the "fight and flight" response triggered by fear.
Here's a look at how yoga enhances the major systems of your body:
- Skeletal System: Like your muscles, bone is living tissue. Practicing yoga asana strengthens your bones, adopting a healthy nourishing diet and reducing toxins also helps your bones to stay strong.
- Muscular System: Nearly all the muscles of your body are stretched and strengthened in asana practice. Unlike other types pf exercise yoga twists, turns, and bends your body forward and back helping you to keep the full range of motion in your joints.
- Circulatory System: Yoga pushes the vital fluids of your body around. The blood flow and flow of lymph is enhanced in the twists and upside down postures.
- Respiratory System: Most people use 50% of their lung capacity, if that. Yoga teaches you to breathe deeply into the lower lungs, middle lungs, and upper lungs. When you use the full capacity of your lungs, you bring in more oxygen which turns into energy.
- Cardiovascular System: Practicing yoga can help to lower blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose levels. Remember a big aspect of yoga is diet. When you adopt a healthy diet, your heart health improves.
- Digestive System: Yoga stretches the body and massages the abdominal wall which helps food to move efficiently along the digestive tract. Yoga reduces stress and helps the body to rest and digest.
- Urinary System: enhanced by balanced yoga diet, drinking adequate water, and moving the body regularly with yoga.
- Nervous System: Brain chemicals and hormones are released into the blood stream when the heart rate increases for a prolonged period of time such as a full yoga class. Feel good hormones, dopamine, seratonin, and endorphins balance the nervous system leaving you feeling calm, alert, and uplifted.
- Endocrine System: The pressure of the yoga poses near certain glands may support secretion of hormones and help to create balance throughout the body.
- Pranic System: Prana is Life Force Energy. It is enhanced by both movement, breath, and intention.
The benefits of yoga don't end at the physical level. In fact, they just begin.
Come practice with me and experience this healing energizing health care system for yourself.
I'm live streaming my classes all month long.
I'll see you on the mat,
Rebecca
Rebecca Snowball
Owner/Teacher Yoga Soul Inc.
