5 Benefits of Yoga

Yoga has to be the best gift from India to the world. There are quite a few broad variety of yoga schools, practices and beliefs of yoga in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism but every each one of them aims for a healthier body and soul. Yoga, along with bringing peace and tranquillity to your mind helps in the betterment of the physical state of your body too. And that is why, we have compiled the 5 best advantages of yoga for you!

Builds Muscle Strength along with Flexibility

Strong muscles not only make you look good but also protect our bones and our bodies from ailments like arthritis, back ache etc. There are a lot of aasanas which help us build our strength and endurance. But we can achieve strong muscles by working out in a gym as well, right? Yes, we can. But building up muscles in a gym comes at the expense of our flexibility. Yoga, on the other hand helps making us more flexible. Of course, in the beginning we will not even be able to touch our toes, let alone do any complex aasana. But gradually, with time we would be able to sense a general loosening of our joints and connective tissue.

Decrease in Stress and Anxiety

Yoga is well known for its stress and anxiety relieving capability. Stress in human body is related to cortisone hormone. Yoga significantly decreases the secretion of cortisone which has been proved in a plethora of studies. A study followed 64 women with Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After 10 weeks of performing yoga once in a week, 52% of them no longer met the criteria of PTSD.

Improves your posture

Our posture should be such that there is minimal stress on our necks and spines. If our head is just inches off the perfect posture, it will strain our back and neck muscles along with spine. And by the end of the day, we will be exhausted like we have done physical labor through the day despite being seated in front of the laptop. And fatigue is not the only drawback. If it persists, we might end up with chronic back and neck pains.

Increases blood flow

Yoga has been known to get our blood flowing. Aasanas involving twisting get the venous blood flowing from the internal organs and oxygenated blood flows back as the twist is reversed. Aasanas involving headstands, handstands etc get the venous blood flowing from legs and pelvics and are particularly helpful if we have swelling in the legs. Yoga also boosts overall levels of hemoglobin and red blood cells.

Helps fight depression

Yoga has been known to have an anti-depressant effect on us. This is because yoga decreases the secretion of cortisone. In one study featuring alcoholics, participants practiced ‘Sudarshan Kriya’ for 2 weeks. At the end of two weeks, they had fewer symptoms of depression and lower levels of ACTH, the hormone which triggers the secretion of cortisone.

Actually, yoga helps us in ways more than just these five listed above. It has to be the only exercise which makes both our mind and body stronger and healthier!

Courtesy: Book Your Game

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