Yoga is one of the physical, mental, and spiritual practices aimed at transforming the body, mind and soul. This term is a derivative of the words “yoking together” or a span of horses or oxen. Applied to the human context, it implies yoking the body, mind and soul. Is yoga healthy? Indisputably Yes! As we shall see in this article, yoga has innumerable health benefits.
Health Benefit 1: Improved Flexibility
Yoga helps you become physically flexible. The senses of touch become alive and you are able to bend and strike any pose without straining. The perennial pains and aches experienced in the body ebbs away with yoga. To paraphrase this, tight hips and joints are cause by misalignment of the thigh and shin bones-something that yoga corrects. Good posture flexes muscles and connective tissues such as fascia and ligaments.
Health Benefit 2: Builds Strength
Strong muscles result from practicing yoga, which does more good than harm to your body. This is because it fights conditions such as arthritis and back pain. The difference between lifting weights and yoga is that the former merely builds strength but the latter gives you flexibility as well, which going to the gym doesn’t offer.
Health Benefit 3: Neck Muscles
Imagine your neck muscles supporting your head directly over the spine. It is a delicate balancing act which takes yoga to maintain an upright posture. The various head movements such as forward and backward make it strain, so you experience pain. This is what causes fatigue and hence may end up taking a slumped position. Eventually, the inward curves in the neck cave under pressure and precedes the degenerative arthritis of the spine.
Health Benefit 4: Joints’ Health
Yoga assists the joints in the body to go through the full rigors of motion, an exercise that helps fight degenerative. Such movements in the joint lubricate the cartilage. These aids in preventing the wear and tear that is won’t to happen with time and as you age.
Health Benefit 5: Healthy Spinal
Spinal disks require being supple so as to play their role— absorbing the shock between the vertebrae. Without proper nourishment, these disks can herniated and compress nerves. To ensure that these areas are well served with nutrients, one of the yoga practices known as asana combined with bends and twists will help them stay in shape
Health Benefit 6: Bone Health
Osteoporosis is a disease of the bones occasioned by the bones breaking down due to decreased bone density. To strengthen the bones, yoga calls for lifting your own weight. Some of the practices involve Downward-and-Upward-Facing Dog to for the arm bones. It has been found through research that yoga reduces cortisol, the stress hormone. This is important in delaying ‘calcium drain’ in the bones.
Health Benefit 9: Boosts Blood Circulation
Yoga boosts blood flow in the hands and feet by getting more oxygen in the cells, hence improving the functions of the named parts. In particular, the twisting of both hands and feet help squeeze out toxic blood from the internal organs and in place allows oxygenated blood to flow in them after ‘pressure release’.
Exercising in inverted positions such as headstand, handstand as well as shoulder stands help in blood flow from the pelvis and the legs back to the heart. The blood returned to the heart is then pumped to the lungs to receive oxygen. This kind of exercise is particularly important in the event you have a swelling in the legs or kidney problems.
Yoga promotes hemoglobin quantities in blood as well as hindering platelets from clinging to one another. Such stickiness of platelets is responsible for cardiovascular issues such as heart attacks.
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