The Benefits of Yoga

Chances are that you’ve seen a lot of people walking around with yoga mats lately. While yoga has always been somewhat popular, its popularity has truly exploded over the past decade. While the obvious benefit is the improved physical appearance that one experiences with regular yoga practice, yoga actually has a myriad of benefits that attract devotees to keep coming back for more. Here are the benefits of yoga.

Improved Mental Health

We often think of yoga as something we do for our bodies and our physical health. However, the mental health benefits of yoga shouldn’t be underestimated. While all exercise carries with it some form of mood improvement, the meditative aspects of yoga make it an even more effective way to improve one’s mental and emotional well-being. Yoga expert and author Ilchi Lee has spoken at length about how yoga practitioners experience an improved mood and better coping mechanisms when confronted with strength.

A Drastic Increase In Flexibility

Those who are dismissive of yoga will frequently refer to it as “just stretching.” The truth is that yoga is so much more than just a stretching exercise. It offers both a cardio and strength workout. However, that’s not to say that yoga can’t dramatically improve your flexibility. When done regularly, you’ll see that your body becomes more flexible than you’d have ever dreamed it could be.

Improved Physical Appearance

Yoga helps to build muscle, although it certainly won’t make you bulky. Ilchi Lee has talked about how yoga uses small, gentle movements to help you build muscle that is long and lean. If you’ve ever sought that coveted “dancer’s body,” yoga is a fabulous way to achieve this look. Instead of utilizing weights, yoga helps you to build muscle through the repeated lifting of your own body.

Better Athletic Performance

Every serious athlete should be incorporating yoga into their routine. Yoga can drastically reduce chronic joint and muscle soreness. In addition to the aforementioned improved flexibility, yoga improves endurance and recovery time. No matter what sport you participate in, yoga will help to make you better at it.

Weight Loss

You won’t lose weight from yoga alone. However, when you combine yoga with a healthy diet and regular cardiovascular exercise, you can expect to see some fairly dramatic results. Yoga can also help those who are losing weight to maintain skin elasticity as the pounds come off. This can be highly beneficial for those who have a significant amount of weight to lose. Yoga can also increase your metabolism, which makes dieting even simpler.

Enjoy Your Workout

There are so many different types of yoga to try, which means that there’s something for just about everyone. Some people will gravitate towards hot yoga, which involves doing a series of slow poses in a heated room. Others might really love aerial yoga, which involves doing yoga poses while suspended from a hammock. It’s very difficult to become bored with yoga. If one type of yoga starts to disinterest you, you can just try another.

You don’t have to become the most flexible person on the planet. You don’t even have to do yoga everyday. However, just adding a few yoga sessions every week can hugely impact your health and wellness for the better and help you to achieve your weight goals.

Samantha

Samantha hails from Virginia and is a proud wife to a retired Deputy Sheriff and mother to two amazing little boys named Jack & William. A veteran product reviewer; Samantha has been reviewing products for 8 years and offers high quality product reviews with original photography.