Health Benefits: Yoga

When some people think of yoga, they imagine a bunch of "weird" people twisting themselves into a pretzel shape. This is a sad misconception, that keeps many people who think that they are too stiff from ever walking into a studio. The truth is you're never too old to improve flexibility and the rest of your body and mind as well. Why is it that we fear what we do not know about?

The asanas increase flexibility by building heat in the body and safely stretching your muscles and all of the soft tissues of your body, even the nerves. This includes the ligaments, tendons, and the fascia sheath that surrounds your muscles. We tend to see the greatest gains in the torso, hips, shoulders and large muscle groups. This is why Yin yoga is so effective, it targets these areas.

All of the heat we build us helps us with stretching; it releases the lactic acid that builds up with muscle use and causes stiffness, tension, pain, and fatigue. We release toxins and tone organ systems internally. In addition, yoga increases the range of motion in joints, and may increase lubrication as well. The outcome is a sense of ease and fluidity throughout your body. Go from feeling like a tin can man, to feeling like a leaf floating on the wind. Free, alive and full of life!

Health benefits of Yoga: Strength

Ashtanga, Vinyasa and power yoga, will help you improve muscle tone.

Iyengar yoga, focuses on more precise alignment in poses, it can provide strength and endurance benefits.

Upper body strength builders: Downward Dog, Upward Dog, and Plank pose

Lower extremity strength builders: Warrior series, chair poses target the quadriceps, lunges, and all other standing poses.

Core builders: When practiced correctly, nearly all poses build core strength in the deep abdominal muscles.

Lower back strength builders: Upward Dog and Chair pose, boat pose and the spinal balance.

Health benefits of Yoga: Posture

With increased flexibility and strength comes better posture. With a stronger core, you're more likely to sit and stand "tall." Another benefit of yoga is the increased body awareness, or the feedback loop. This heightened awareness tells when you're slouching so you can adjust your posture.

Health benefits of Yoga: Breathing

Because of the deep, mindful breathing that yoga involves, lung capacity often improves. This in turn can improve sports performance and endurance. Practicing power yoga or vinyasa can provide an aerobic exercise experience. Having used a heart rate monitor to log progress in vinyasa classes, showed a heart rate in the cardio range for 20 minutes and 750 calories burned.

Most forms of yoga emphasize deepening and lengthening your breath. This stimulates the relaxation response which is the opposite of the fight-or-flight adrenaline boost of the stress response. The deep diaphragmatic breath we use in ujjayi pranayama expands the diaphragm into the belly and increases the oxygen saturation of the blood.

Health benefits of Yoga: Calm and stress free living

The goal of yoga is the reduce and eliminate the fluctuations of the mind. This mental chatter is restlessness. A lack of restlessness results in calmness and increases ones ability to focus.

Even beginners tend to feel less stressed and more relaxed after their first class. Some styles of yoga stress deep breathing techniques more than others, that help to focus your mind on the breath. When this happens, your mind becomes calm.

Health benefits of Yoga: Concentration and mood

Harder to pin down and research scientifically, improved concentration and the ability to focus mentally are common benefits you'll hear yoga students talk about. The same is true with mood.

Nearly every yoga student will tell you they feel happier and more contented after class. Recently, researchers have begun exploring the effects of yoga on depression, a benefit that may result from yoga's boosting oxygen levels to the brain. Yoga is even being studied as an adjunct therapy to relieve symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Some studies have suggested that yoga may have a positive effect on learning and memory, a slowing of the aging process, increase a person's sense of self-acceptance, and improve energy levels.

Health benefits of Yoga: Symptom reduction for chronic disease

Nearly 25 years ago, Dr. Dean Ornish studies the effects of yoga in helping to reverse Coronary Artery Disease. Since then, one of the most studied areas of the health benefits of yoga is its effect on heart disease. Yoga has been known to lower blood pressure and reduce the heart rate. It has also been associated with decreased cholesterol and triglyceride levels as well as a boost in immune system function. Yoga also benefits other chronic medical conditions, relieving symptoms of asthma, back pain, and arthritis.

Health benefits of Yoga: Relationships with yourself and a higher power

Yoga has been said to increase spiritual awareness. Having personally found this to be true, many people have communicated this perception as well. When the fluctuations (compulsive thoughts, addictions, cravings, passions, ego and desire) are diminished, the mind is free to think feel and live in a clean and pure way. It is easy to look back and see where shopping and overeating were problems, but very difficult to recognize while you are doing it.

Yoga can help improve relationships because as you develop a non-reactive mind, your responses change to reflect thoughtful consideration in place of impulsive reactions.

Research hints at a boost in the hormone oxytocin. This is the so-called "trust" and "bonding" hormone that's linked with feeling relaxed and connected to others. This may be why so many romances start in the yoga studio.

Following every class, students tell me about the improved quality of communication and have built better relationships at home and work.

The only way to become aware of the health benefits of yoga is to try it for yourself and see. Open mind and open heart.

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