Yoga is an ancient practice that may have originated in India. It has been practised for several years as a form of exercise. Yoga is a mix of breathing techniques, movement, specific postures and meditation. It can boost your mental and physical fitness by improving sleep, busting stress, strengthening your heart and many more benefits of yoga asanas we discussed below.
There are five main components to yoga: relaxation, breathing exercises, postures, meditation and concentration. Each component strengthens the practitioner in different ways.
Here are some benefits of yoga asanas/yoga that you should know.
1. Yoga builds strength
You can build strength through yoga by lifting weights and by practising consistently, you’ll will begin to strengthen your major muscle groups (core, arms, legs, back). There are some yoga asanas/poses which help you in strength building plank pose, four-limbed staff pose (Chaturanga Dandasana), cobra pose (Bhujangasana), boat pose (Navasana).
2. Yoga improves flexibility and balance
When you perform yoga everyday, you’ll feel the flexibilty in your body. During your first class, you probably won’t be able to touch your toes, never mind do a backbend. But if you stick with it, you’ll notice a gradual loosening, and eventually, seemingly impossible poses will become possible. By doing some yoga poses everyday can improves the balance also, all you need is patience and practice. There are some yoga asanas/poses like mountain pose (Tadasana), chair pose (Utkatasana), high lunge (Alanasana), tree pose (Vrkasana).
3. Yoga improves sleep
Occasionally yoga practice will improve sleep quality more than no practice at all. However, people who do regular yoga practices experience better sleep quality. There are two types of yoga which can improve sleep quality. First one is Hatha Yoga which involves gentle body postures and breathing techniques (focus on inhalation, holding breath and exhalation). Second, Nidra yoga is done while lying down and focuses on breathing or perception of certain parts of the body. Poses done before bedtime should encourage the body to relax and sleep.
4. Yoga helps your heart health
Practicing yoga may help lower blood pressure, blood cholestrol and blood glucose levels, as well as heart rate, making it a useful lifestyle intervention. A study found that people who were taught only pranayama could do more exercise with less oxygen. There are specific yoga asanas for heart problems such as triangle pose (Trikonasana), sphinx pose (Salamba bhujangasana), corpse pose (Shavasana), bridge pose (Setu bandhasana), bow pose (Dhanurasana).
5. Yoga helps your mind relax
Yoga brings together physical and mental disciplines that may help you achieve peacefulness of body and mind. This can help you relax and manage stress and anxiety. The main benefit of yoga is that specific yoga postures combines with deep breathing which help you in relaxation and it is good stress management exercise. It is perfect for those looking to calm their mind after a long day at work. Regular meditation and yoga asanas/poses- corpse pose (Savasana), wide-legged forward bend pose (Prasarita Padottanasana), forward fold pose (Uttanasana) practices gives you a better results.
6. Yoga increases your blood flow
Yoga is best for blood circulation. Warm up requires light to moderate stretching and prepare your body for a workout while increasing circulation throughout your body. Warm-up helps in stretching the core parts of the body, such as hamstrings, back and neck. Besides increasing blood flow and preventing muscle injuries, yoga warm-up helps you to get into the rhythm of breath to movement. Yoga also boosts levels of hemoglobin and red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the tissues. And it thins the blood by making platelets less sticky and by cutting the level of clot-promoting proteins in the blood. There are some yoga asanas/poses which increases the blood flow- cat-cow pose (Bitilasana), downward-facing dog pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana), shoulder stand pose (Sarvangasana), legs up the wall pose (Viparita Karani), low lunge pose (Anjaneyasana), mountain pose (Tadasana).
7. Yoga lowers diabetes level
Regular yoga practice can help reduce the level of sugar in the blood. Yoga makes your cells respond better to insulin, lowers bad cholesterol (LDL) and increases good cholestrol (HDL) levels and improves blood circulation. Yoga aids in making you stronger, relaxes your mind and helps relieve anxiety and stress. There are some yoga postures that are helpful in dabietes like vajrasana (Kneeling pose), shoulder stand, plow pose, lying-down body twist, bow posture, two-legged forward bend and half-spinal twist.
8. Yoga gives you peace of mind
Yoga is not only a physical activity, it gives inner peace also. It is a method to discover your deepest inner selves and find connection with your state of being. Yoga practices often start with a short period of meditating that helps preparing both our body and mind to the upcoming exercises – negative energy passes, giving way to positive vibes flow. Mind gets cleared and spirit slowly moves into a balanced zone which is key for the perfect self-control and makes being easier. The practice of being focus on finding the peace of mind and helps your mind to forget about the stress or other things. There are some yoga asanas/poses – easy pose (Sukhasana), standing forward bend (Uttanasana), corpse pose (Savasana) and many more. Doing meditation for few minutes gives you peace of mind and it brings calmness, alignment, happiness and focuses on breath.
9. Yoga perfects your posture
A good posture helps to mitigate a lot of health disorders, including damage to the spine and several lifestyle issues as well. The poor postues cause mild-to-severe back and neck aches, when neglected, it lead to damage of the spinal structures. Yoga is one of the best way to correct your posture. When your body is aligned in such a way that the back is straight, shoulders squared and relaxed, chin up, chest out, and stomach in, then its said to be correct posture. Just like a straight line. So, here are some yoga asanas/poses for perfect posture plank pose, cat-cow stretch (Chakravakrasana), eagle pose (Garudasana), mountain pose (Tadasana).
10. Yoga helps in weight loss
There are manys ways to lose weight but yoga is the best one among the all. It not only helps you in losing weight also improves the mental health and physical health. It can also help you burn calories, as well as increase your muscle mass and tone. Yoga may reduce joint pain, which in turn allows you to exercise more and increase your daily activites. There are manys yoga asanas to lose weight like sun salutation (Suryanamaskar), warrior pose (Virabhadrasana), bow pose (Dhanurasana), chair pose (Utkatasana), bridge pose (Setu bandha sarvangasan), cobra pose (Bhujangasana), angle pose (Konasana). You have to practice all these asanas regularly for the better results.
11. Yoga improves immunity
Yoga and immune system are interlinked with each other. Balance and stability are essential for anything to work well. The same thing applies on immune system, when imbalance sets in, the immune system is affected. Yoga focuses on bringing harmony between mind and the body. It ia combination of physical exercise, breathing techniques and concentration, which strengthens the body and relaxes the mind which improves immunity. There are some yoga asanas/poses such as sitting and breathing pose (Sukhasana), rabbit pose (Sasakasana), corpse pose (Shavasana), forceful breathing (Kapalabhati pranayama). Through these yoga poses you get a healthy gut which help in boosting immunity.
