Yoga has many health benefits for both women and men. It can protect your spine, help to protect and prevent you from conditions like arthritis and back pain, cartilage and joint breakdown, ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, and constipation. Yoga can also give you strength to prevent falls and help you to recover from illness. It can provide greater longevity in your health by boosting your immune system functionality and serve to inspire you as well. A few of the specific benefits of yoga are touched on here, below.
Calm Your Mind
Yoga can tame an endless stream of thoughts. It employs a number of relaxation techniques that clear your mind and restore what it needs, requiring you to focus, while forcing you to unplug from your texts, calls and emails. The poses, breathing and the environment in yoga helps to bring blood, oxygen and other nutrients to your body, relieving stress in a way that helps to lower your blood pressure and make you calmer and happier overall, including acceptance and ease with your body.
Detoxify
Yoga gets your blood flowing, gets more oxygen to your cells and it can help with your circulation, especially in your hands and feet. Further, when you do a series of twists that loosen the joints that make up your spine, you promote detoxification of your body by allowing oxygenated blood to flow in once the twist is released.
Improve Flexibility, Posture and Balance to Prevent Workout Injuries
Regular stretching, strengthening, balancing and your ability to scan and assess your body will help to reduce the incidence of injury when you are engaged in other sports. After all, tight hips can strain the knee joints due to improper alignment of the thigh and shinbones. Tight hamstrings can lead to flattening of the lumbar spine, which can cause back pain. Inflexibility in muscles and connective tissue, such as fascia and ligaments, can cause poor posture.
Have Better Sex
One way to improve your sexual performance is to transfer your relaxation, concentration and breathing techniques from yoga class into the bedroom. Regular yoga helps to develop compassion and greater equanimity. Focusing your mind and channeling your sexual energy can help to prevent premature ejaculation and make you more sensitive and responsive to your partner.
Sleep Better
The breathing techniques and mental exercises you learn from yoga encourage self-care and help you to slow down, relax more and sleep deeper. Doing yoga before or close to bed time can clear your mind, calm your body and help you to get a good night’s rest.
Build Mass and Strength
There are many types of yoga classes, some which are gentler than others. When you find a class that matches your abilities and pushes the, you will be able to build whole-body lean muscle mass. Yoga strengthens your core and uses the weight of your own body to build mass and strength. If you just went to the gym and lifted weights, you might build strength at the expense of flexibility.
Set Goals
Often a yoga teacher will ask you to set an intention for that particular session or in some other part of your life. A simple saying such as, “I’ll be easier on myself for the next hour,” can have far-reaching effects. Yoga can help you to form more real, tangible and accessible goals while providing you with inner strength. You may find that certain goals come easier in this holistic system, such as eating better, exercising more or finally quitting smoking after years of failed attempts.
