Yoga has evolved from a spiritual practice observed in India, to a serene and focused discipline practiced by millions around the world. In honor of September being National Yoga Month, here are some reasons why you should integrate yoga into your daily life.
1. Physical Fitness
If you are looking to improve your flexibility, endurance, strength, and balance, then yoga is a perfect place to start. There are numerous yoga poses and exercises that you can do on a daily basis to improve your physical fitness.
Don’t worry about your current fitness level or low flexibility. Yoga poses can be modified to meet your current abilities and then increased with time to match your capabilities.
2. Stress Management
Stress is detrimental to your physical and mental health.
That’s why yoga integrates controlled breathing (pranayama) into its poses, which plays a significant role in effective stress management. In addition, meditation (which is a central part of yoga) helps calm and focus your mind, reducing stress levels, while lowering blood pressure, aiding sleep, eliminating negative emotions, and improving your mood.
3. Improved Posture
The way you carry yourself significantly affects how others perceive you. Because we live in the age of sitting at computers all day, we now hunch up or slouch naturally, instead of sitting tall.
A large number of yoga poses require you to maintain a straight back, helping you develop a good posture over time.
4. Better Concentration
The outside world is cluttered and hectic.
Thankfully, yoga helps quiet your mind, giving you the opportunity to focus on the present. With time your concentration will greatly improve, as well as your ability to retain and process new information.
5. Pain Management
Dependency on drugs to treat pain has proven to be debilitating and often fatal. That’s why many health professionals promote drug free ways to manage pain; such as practicing yoga.
Yoga poses can be adapted to target problem areas, helping you deal with everything from back pain to knee pain. In fact, a study has shown that yoga therapy is effective in reducing the frequency of migraine headaches.
Yoga can play an essential part in helping you attain your fitness and health goals, regardless of your size, gender, or age. If you would like a physical workout before you delve into yoga, book your Total Health Awareness Scan today and let us give you a comprehensive report on your health.
