Most of the people who really benefit from Yoga are those who practice and continue to practice. Often beginners try Yoga once and never again. They don’t see how stretching or putting your body in awkward positions helps your life. Here are 5 reasons why yoga lovers love the practice:
1. Relaxed Yoga:
When you practice yoga, your full attention is required. Practice allows you to disconnect from your long hard day and surrender. For about an hour, your practice requires you to be in the present moment. Most of the day, we are busy working, or making plans, or thinking about where we have to go, what we have to do… During this hour or so, your mind should focus and disconnect from all those things you did. or you have to because to do any pose, or listen to the instructor’s instructions, you have to pay attention. By leaving your workload behind or bypassing your thoughts about what you need to do for that hour, you are clearing your mind. When your mind is clear, you can better reflect on the past, plan for your future, and enjoy your present moment.
2. Yoga strengthens the body:
Yoga is exercise: of the mind! There is no doubt that Yoga postures and poses strengthen your muscles and help you lose weight and control cellulite. It also depends on how often you practice (on and off your mat). Practicing regularly will strengthen those more than others. Yoga allows you to learn about your own body. What poses can you do? What poses do you like or dislike? It teaches you your physical limitations, physical abilities, and physical preferences. How can you strengthen your body without first learning about your own? By practicing, you can find out if you are a back bender, an arm balancer, or both! I can tell you that I never considered myself flexible before I started practicing Yoga. Over time, I discovered that I am much more flexible than I thought (in my body and in my mind)! Being flexible and open in mind allows you to be flexible and open in your body. Try it, you have everything to win.
3. Yoga strengthens the mind:
Simple: “Healthy Body = Healthy Mind.” Yoga offers us the tools that help us think clearly. You say, “How can tummy time help clear my mind?” Well, actually, turning upside down reverses blood flow to the brain, flushing out the old and pumping in the fresh, new. Besides that, the practice of Yoga (asana) has everything to get you off your mat. For example, while practicing, one goal is to keep your body engaged, but smooth. We call this Sthira-Sukha. (Sthira – Firm and Alert) and (Sukha – Ease and without Tension). Sounds like a doddle? Think again. Our practice helps us find this balance because by finding this balance, we can move forward in our practice. Otherwise, the poses will just remain poses. Think about how this could benefit life off your mat. In your workplace, employers favor those who have the ability to lead, be strong and assertive, speak up, be quick (qualities Sthira brings) BUT, they also need those who remain calm during crisis, have skills to solve problems, are polite, communicate well with others (qualities that Sukha brings). Wouldn’t both benefit you in your workplace? Absolutely.
4. Yoga teaches you to prevent:
Yoga not only helps you reflect on and solve all your problems (even the ones you didn’t know you had), but it also helps you prevent future problems in your life. Yoga improves your thinking skills. Sometimes we like to do things over and over again and expect a different result each time (definition of insanity). I know I’m guilty of that too! Yoga practice is that little lightbulb that pops up in your head and says, “hey, maybe I should try something different as this clearly isn’t working.” So, you may ask, “How can doing a yoga pose with this help me!?” Here’s why: Since the poses teach you about your body, they also teach you how far you can go, or whether you may have gone too far. If your body does not feel good in a pose or it causes pain, you are asked to GET OUT and try a different or modified pose that is better for your body. Do you see the connection? Many times these concepts are not even noticed. We started saying: “Yoga feels good, it puts me in a better mood, it changed my life…etc.” It’s because as we start to practice, we start to recognize the things that get in our way and we recognize them more. faster than before, then having a clear mind, we take action. Over time, this becomes a prevention tool.
5. Yoga changes old habits:
You know those bad clothes you have and you find it very difficult to get away from them? Well, this is where Yoga can help you in that area of your life. The practice of yoga makes you recognize all sorts of things about yourself that you didn’t know. Simply because, as mentioned before, it requires your full attention. Once you learn about yourself, you recognize your habits (the good and the bad). As you know, the first step to changing anything is to recognize the problem. In this case, recognize your bad habits. Sometimes we are not fully aware of our habits. So how can we change them if we don’t even know we have them? By practicing Yoga, we learn about our body, our preferences and our health. Naturally, paying close attention to ourselves is like studying ourselves and seeing ourselves through the eyes of the world outside of us. This is not so easy to do, especially if we are so caught up in our stressful and busy lives. As we practice over time, we become extremely sensitive to notice everything about ourselves and this is when we clearly recognize our habits. To dig deeper, we begin to recognize how we could improve our clothing or change things in other areas to help balance the things we can’t change. For example, heavy smokers or drinkers who wish they could quit their habits may find it nearly impossible to let go. Working with your body, over time it teaches the concept of “letting go of what doesn’t serve me.” Over time, with practice, and most importantly, commitment, change will come and it will come naturally.
Namaste.