7 reasons why people love yoga

Yoga is a union of body, mind, and soul. Yoga combines physical postures, breathing techniques, meditation and relaxation techniques. It originated over 5000 years ago in India and was originally practiced as a form of healing. There are eight limbs of yoga of which last limb is samadhi, which used to be the ultimate aim of yogis and yoginis.

But now, yoga is practiced as a form of a physical exercise to stay healthy. People love to do yoga because of these seven major reasons.

Low impact activity

Yoga is a low impact activity. It is a very good exercise for all age types and all the body types. It is a very good exercise when

1. you don’t want to do very hard exercises
2. when you are new to exercises
3. When you are coming back from injury or illness
4. when you are looking for something to do on your rest days.

I had been doing high intensity cardio workouts for more than a year and there had been times when I felt need to come down to lighter exercises like yoga. In one of those moments, I started learning yoga from an institute in Rishikesh, India. To my surprise, the low impact hatha yoga gave me multiple health benefits.

Assist in many diseases

Yoga can also assist in the prevention of many diseases like arthritis, osteoporosis and other musculoskeletal issues, asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. Around ten years back, I suffered asthma and PCOD which were not only creating physical health issues for me but were also creating depression in my life. And I could, very efficiently come out of these lifestyle issues with the help of hatha yoga.

Strength and muscle tone

Controlled movements and isometric holds in yoga help in building a strong and balanced body. Yoga is not like a gym where you lift weights to build muscle. Some yoga poses have the ability to break your muscle fibres by creating tension in them. Then, your body builds more muscles as backup, thereby increasing the muscle mass. There are many poses like tree pose, warrior pose, bridge pose, chair pose and plank pose which are very effective in building strong muscles.

Good for flexibility

Yoga practice can increase flexibility of your muscles over time. When you start doing yoga, initially you may feel that you are not able to perform all the poses. But over time as you stretch your muscles, your muscles become less stiff, less tired and more flexible. In one study, people improved their flexibility by up to 35% after only 8 weeks of yoga.

Helps to beat stress

Yoga and breathing exercises are a real magic when it comes to beating stress, anxiety and depression. Anxiety can last for just a few moments when you experience a high level of stress or it can be chronic and constant in your life. Yoga focuses on three aspects of you - mind, body and soul. So, regardless of how much anxiety you have, yoga can be a very big help in managing it. Stress is attached to your fight-or-flight response. Breathing exercises slows your heart rate, releases muscle tension, and gives your body a chance to switch from fight-or-flight response to a relaxation response. One of the important aspects of breathing exercises and meditation is to practice mindfulness, which helps big time in stress and anxiety.

So, here is a very effective breathing exercise for your relaxation which I practice when I face stressful situation. Inhale deeply through nose and exhale through your mouth. Remember the time taken to inhale should be equal to the time taken to exhale.

Yoga helps to regularize sleep patterns

Yoga does not directly affect sleep but it does affect your mind and body which leads to relaxation and better sleep patterns. When we are stressed and anxious, our sleep cycle gets disturbed but when you practice yoga, your body becomes lighter and more flexible and your mind becomes calmer, thereby improving your sleep cycle. Yoga can help you sleep better in many ways:

1. Yoga improves mindfulness, increases your melatonin levels, that's how help you reduce sleep disturbances.
2. You can practice deep breathing techniques before bed to get a better sleep.
3. Yoga and meditation help you de-stress.
4. It relaxes your nervous system over time which regularizes your sleep patterns.

There are many yogasanas which can help you get better sleep like uttanasana, halasana, balasana, sarvangasana, parvatasana and savasana.

Yoga builds strong connection between body and mind

Yoga is a union of mind, body and soul. It not only positively affects your body and health but also relaxes & balances your mind. Regular yoga practice creates mental clarity and calmness, relaxes the mind, balances the emotions, increases the mental focus, and thereby helps to build self confidence. Yoga is very effective in creating a positive outlook towards life.?