Spiritual Niagara Insights Issue 1 July 2017 | Page 13

YOGA & YOGIC LIFE
TOP 10 REASONS TO TRY YOGA
BY MARIA KONDARKO
1. STRESS RELIEF: Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress
on the body. By encouraging relaxation, yoga helps to lower
the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Related benefits
include lowering blood pressure and heart rate, improving
digestion and boosting the
immune system as well as easing symptoms of conditions such
as anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma and insomnia.
2. PAIN RELIEF: Yoga can ease pain. Studies have
demonstrated that practicing yoga asanas (postures),
meditation or a combination of the two, reduced pain for
people with conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis,
auto-immune diseases and hypertension as well as arthritis,
back and neck pain, and other chronic conditions. Some
practitioners report that even emotional pain can be eased
through the practice of yoga.
3. BETTER BREATHING: Yoga teaches people to take slower,
deeper breaths. This helps to improve lung function, trigger
the body’s relaxation response and increase the amount of
oxygen available to the body.
4. FLEXIBILITY: Yoga helps to improve flexibility and mobility,
increasing range of movement and reducing aches and pains.
Many people can’t touch their toes during their first yoga
class. Gradually they begin to use the correct muscles. Over
time, the ligaments, tendons and muscles lengthen, increasing
elasticity, making more poses possible. Yoga also helps to
improve body alignment resulting in better posture and
helping to relieve back, neck, joint and muscle problems.
5. INCREASED STRENGTH: Yoga asanas (postures) use every
muscle in the body, helping to increase strength literally from
head to toe. And, while these postures strengthen the body,
they also provide an additional benefit of helping to relieve
muscular tension.
6. WEIGHT MANAGEMENT: Yoga (even less vigorous styles) can
aid weight control efforts by reducing the cortisol levels as
well as by burning excess calories and reducing stress. Yoga
also encourages healthy eating habits and provides a
heightened sense of well being and self esteem.
7. IMPROVED CIRCULATION: Yoga helps to improve circulation
and, as a result of various poses, more efficiently moves
oxygenated blood to the body’s cells.
8. CARDIOVASCULAR CONDITIONING: Even gentle yoga
practice can provide cardiovascular benefits by lowering
resting heart rate, increasing endurance and improving
oxygen uptake during exercise.
9. FOCUS ON THE PRESENT: Yoga helps us to focus on the
present, to become more aware and to help create mind body
health. It opens the way to improved concentration,
coordination,
reaction time and memory.
10. INNER PEACE: The meditative aspects of yoga help many
to reach a deeper, more spiritual and more satisfying place in
their lives. Many who begin to practice for other reasons have
reported this to be a key reason that yoga has become an
essential part of their daily lives.
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