Yoga is a 5,000 year old practice that has gained popularity over the decades. Modern yoga focuses on physical fitness, learning ancient poses, and controlling your breathing and mind. The word “yoga” means “to unite”. In yoga, you unite your body and mind. If you haven’t tried it yet, I beg you to start now! It’s a relaxing yet toning workout that everyone deserves to experience.
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20 Life-Changing Benefits of Yoga
1. Full-Body Toning
Practicing yoga regularly will help you build and tone muscles throughout your entire body! Different poses engage different muscle groups – giving you a full body workout without even realizing it. Yoga is full of bodyweight strength training – you’ll be surprised at what you feel and how you’ll look after consistently doing yoga.
2. Increased Flexibility
Through a series of gentle yet deep stretches held for longer periods of time, yoga will improve your flexibility – you should even notice a difference from the beginning of a session to the end! You’ll be able to get deeper into a stretch and realize which side is tighter. You can improve your flexibility dramatically through the repetition of stretches and controlled breathing in your yoga practice.
3. Better Balance
Yoga strengthens your core and muscles throughout your back and legs which help to improve your balance. There are a variety of complex poses and simple transitions between poses which help you maintain balance. Many poses like Tree Pose, Eagle Pose, High Lunge, Chair Pose, Warrior III, and Triangle Pose all help improve balance.
4. Natural Stress Relief
Mindful movements and controlled breathing help to reduce stress in the body and mind. Regular yoga can regulate your nervous system because it promotes relaxation. Yoga is usually done in a quiet atmosphere. Dimming the lights, putting on relaxing music, and lighting a candle with a calming scent can further help to reduce stress while you practice. It also makes you focus on the task at hand and clear your mind from stressful thoughts.
5. Mental Clarity
Yoga is an excellent way to improve mental clarity through present-moment awareness (mindfulness). Your brain develops new connections when doing yoga, strengthening parts of your brain. This practice improves cognitive function and memory while promoting sharper focus and attention to bring into other areas of your life.
6. Mind-Body Connection
The practice of yoga is ultimately done to combine the mind, body, and spirit into one. Developing a mind-body connection through yoga is one of the best things you can do to get a better understanding of yourself. With light meditation, asanas (physical poses), and pranayama (breathing exercises), you will get there.
7. Improved Digestion
Yoga is a series of exercises that help with digestion. The movements and twists in yoga tend to gently stimulate the organs and muscles that are necessary for digestion. That paired with relaxing your bowels and intestines shows how beneficial yoga is for digestion (and releasing gas!). Yoga also promotes blood flow, which brings important nutriets to the organs to improve digestion.
8. Better Posture
Through yoga poses and body awareness, you learn how to align your body the right way, resulting in better posture. You will also build your core and back muscles which improve posture. You’ll find yourself sitting up straighter at work and releasing tension from your neck and shoulders in no time.
9. Build Stamina & Endurance
With regular yoga, you will build stamina and endurance through holding tough yoga poses for prolonged periods, learning to control your breathing while improving lung capacity, and training your mind to be calm and focused during exercise and physical activity. With the enhanced cardiovascular fitness you will no doubt gain, you will also be able to do more exertion before you fatigue.
10. Learn Breathing Management
Learning to control your breathing with yoga has many positive effects to your body and mind. You calm your nervous system, decrease stress, even lower your blood pressure and heart rate. Controlling your breathing also helps you to hold yoga poses longer – focusing on your breathing and maintaining your balance. Learning to control your breathing sets you up for success when dealing with any stressful situations you may encounter outside of yoga too.
11. Pain Relief
Yoga can help to relieve pain from many chronic conditions like migraines, lower back pain, arthritis, and fibromyalgia. It can also help with pulled and tight muscles though stretching and relaxation techniques and is said to reduce inflammation. Releasing tension with breathing and yoga poses has lasting pain relief effects that many people can benefit from.
12. Better Mood
Yoga, like all exercise, is a natural mood booster that releases feel-good chemicals into your brain like endorphins and serotonin. Research has even shown that practicing yoga can be an effective way to combat depression. Lowering stress hormones like cortisol help reduce anxiety and the improvement of self-awareness can help regulate emotions. Besides – with less pain, better digestion, and more endurance, you’re sure to be in a better mood!
13. Improved Sleep
Through the regular movement and exercise of yoga along with the relaxation techniques you learn and the release of serotonin, you will be set up for a wonderful sleep. Being more mindful and present helps to ease your running thoughts, and relaxing poses like Child’s Pose and Shavasana help to prepare the body for sleep if done shortly before bed. Stretching before bed is an amazing way to set your body’s natural clock.
14. Appreciation for Your Body
When you see how your body can move and what it can really do, you will find a new appreciation for it. Getting into deeper stretches and more complex poses throughout your yoga journey will leave you in awe of what you have been able to obtain with low-impact moves and a focus on breathing. It really is amazing what your body can do for you if you just guide it and give it some time.
15. Heart Health
Pranayama or “Yogic Breathing” has been found to positively impact the function of the heart, brain, and lungs through improved circulation and healthy blood flow. In addition, relaxing the mind and body releases emotional stress, which in turn lowers your blood pressure. Yoga movements and poses reduce inflammation, improve overall fitness, and improve sleep quality and lung capacity – all good things for your heart.
16. Low-Impact Moves
One of the best things about yoga is that virtually anyone can do it since it consists of low-impact moves. This means yoga is gentle on joints – no jumping or jerky movements, so very minimal injury risk. Focusing on controlled movements and proper alignment improves your muscles without straining them. Since yoga is a low-impact workout, it is usually used as a recovery day for high-impact activities, or to relieve injuries from other workouts.
17. No Weights or Equipment Needed
Yoga is a great exercise option because you don’t need anything besides your body for a complete workout. A yoga mat is great to have, but ultimately all of the moves and poses are bodyweight movements so there is no need for expensive weights or equipment. It’s also a good motivation to do it- you don’t have to bring anything or set anything up to get started. Just press play or go from memory if you’re more experienced.
18. Inner & Outer Strength
During your yoga practice, you will learn that you have just as much (if not more!) inner strength as you do outer strength. Sure these moves will help to tone you and work your muscles and show your outer strength, but the real work is done inside. Yoga is an extremely mental journey of self-reflection, acceptance, appreciation, and mind-body connection. You will learn how strong you are in every way with yoga.
19. Get to Know Yourself Better
Spending this time with yourself practicing yoga, you will get to know yourself on another level. Your mind, body, and spirit become one. You will delve deeper into your thoughts and body than ever before. Test your limits and your endurance, see how far your mind will take you. You are capable of so much. Yoga will help you see that as you get to know yourself better.
20. You Can Practice Yoga Anywhere
Lastly, an awesome benefit of yoga is that you can practice it anywhere. As long as you have a flat surface, go for it. Try out a class at the gym, or take a class with a friend. Do it on a blanket in your yard, in your living room, on a pier over the ocean, on a paddleboard on the lake, on a deck in the mountains, or a sandy beach during vacation. Once you learn a few moves, you can practice them anywhere you want.
Yoga Accessories
While you don’t need anything besides your body to do yoga, there are yoga accessories that make the practice more enjoyable and productive. A good yoga mat, yoga blocks, and yoga straps can really help you look forward to having an amazing workout and a deeper stretch.
Best Yoga Mats
Ready to get started? The best yoga mats feel comfortable, stay put, and roll up easily.
- Take a look at this Manduka PRO Yoga Mat. It’s 6mm thick and is 100% latex-free PVC. It is ultra-dense and slip-resistant which is important for your yoga poses! You want to trust that your mat will stay put – cheaper ones slide around and can cause you to slip out of your pose or stretch too far and risk injury. This is the kind of mat that you buy once – it’s built to last a lifetime!
- The Retrospect Solana Yoga Mat is a great everyday yoga mat that is super thick at 1 inch – great for working out on hard surfaces or if you have concerns about back or joint issues against a hard floor. It even comes with a strap to easily carry to yoga class!
- This cost-effective mat is a Premium Gaiam Yoga Mat. I have had decent results with ones like this, but I did end up upgrading eventually. It’s 5mm thick, rolls easily, and comes in pretty designs. It does have a bit of an odor when you first open it, but it dissipates over time. But it comes with a free downloadable yoga class!
Best Yoga Blocks
If you’re a beginner with some mobility issues, yoga blocks will be helpful. Yoga blocks offer some support and stability. They are also useful if you have trouble reaching the floor in your stretches and certain poses.
- The Manduka Yoga Block you can order as a set or separately. They are made of cork for an easy-grip texture. Solid and sturdy, just what you need in a yoga block!
- These Gaiam Yoga Blocks are made of a supportive foam that is durable and light weight. It’s really just preference on whether you prefer cork or foam, both options are great!
Best Yoga Straps
Yoga Straps are also great to have around to really get into a stretch. There are a couple of different types available – but you could really just use a belt or towel if you need to, though yoga straps are inexpensive (under $10 usually!).
- A Yoga Strap with Loops is what I use. It’s helpful to have the straps so that you don’t slide down the strap and you can fully reach as far as physically comfortable for you.
- This TECEUM Yoga Strap is great because it doubles as a strap to carry your yoga mat! It doesn’t slip and it doesn’t stretch – perfect for helping you get a deep connection.
