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38 Reasons To Practice Yoga |
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Are you looking for reasons to start practicing yoga?
Here are ways yoga improves your health reasons enough to call us up and book into a class.
1 Flex TimeImproved flexibility is one of the first and most
obvious benefits of yoga. During your first class, you probably won't
be able to touch your toes, never mind do a backbend. But if you stick
with it, you'll notice a gradual loosening, and eventually, seemingly
impossible poses will become possible. You'll also probably notice that
aches and pains start to disappear. That's no coincidence. Tight hips
can strain the knee joint due to improper alignment of the thigh and
shinbones. Tight hamstrings can lead to a flattening of the lumbar
spine, which can cause back pain. And inflexibility in muscles and
connective tissue, such as fascia and ligaments, can cause poor posture.
2 Strength TestStrong muscles do more than look good. They
also protect us from conditions like arthritis and back pain, and help
prevent falls in elderly people. And when you build strength through
yoga, you balance it with flexibility. If you just went to the gym and
lifted weights, you might build strength at the expense of flexibility.
3 Standing OrdersYour head is like a bowling ball,�big, round,
and heavy. When it's balanced directly over an erect spine, it takes
much less work for your neck and back muscles to support it. Move it
several inches forward, however, and you start to strain those muscles.
Hold up that forward-leaning bowling ball for eight or 12 hours a day
and it's no wonder you're tired. And fatigue might not be your only
problem. Poor posture can cause back, neck, and other muscle and joint
problems. As you slump, your body may compensate by flattening the
normal inward curves in your neck and lower back. This can cause pain
and degenerative arthritis of the spine.
4 Joint AccountEach time you practice yoga, you take your
joints through their full range of motion. This can help prevent
degenerative arthritis or mitigate disability by "squeezing and
soaking" areas of cartilage that normally aren't used. Joint cartilage
is like a sponge; it receives fresh nutrients only when its fluid is
squeezed out and a new supply can be soaked up. Without proper
sustenance, neglected areas of cartilage can eventually wear out,
exposing the underlying bone like worn-out brake pads.
5 Spinal RapSpinal disks the shock absorbers between the
vertebrae that can herniate and compress nerves crave movement. That's
the only way they get their nutrients. If you've got a well-balanced
asana practice with plenty of backbends, forward bends, and twists,
you'll help keep your disks supple.
6 Bone ZoneIt's well documented that weight-bearing exercise
strengthens bones and helps ward off osteoporosis. Many postures in
yoga require that you lift your own weight. And some, like Downward-
and Upward-Facing Dog, help strengthen the arm bones, which are
particularly vulnerable to osteoporotic fractures. In an unpublished
study conducted at California State University, Los Angeles, yoga
practice increased bone density in the vertebrae. Yoga's ability to
lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol (see Number 11) may help
keep calcium in the bones.
7 Flow ChartYoga gets your blood flowing. More specifically,
the relaxation exercises you learn in yoga can help your circulation,
especially in your hands and feet. Yoga also gets more oxygen to your
cells, which function better as a result. Twisting poses are thought to
wring out venous blood from internal organs and allow oxygenated blood
to flow in once the twist is released. Inverted poses, such as
Headstand, Handstand, and Shoulderstand, encourage venous blood from
the legs and pelvis to flow back to the heart, where it can be pumped
to the lungs to be freshly oxygenated. This can help if you have
swelling in your legs from heart or kidney problems. Yoga also boosts
levels of hemoglobin and red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the
tissues. And it thins the blood by making platelets less sticky and by
cutting the level of clot-promoting proteins in the blood. This can
lead to a decrease in heart attacks and strokes since blood clots are
often the cause of these killers.
8 Lymph LessonWhen you contract and stretch muscles, move
organs around, and come in and out of yoga postures, you increase the
drainage of lymph (a viscous fluid rich in immune cells). This helps
the lymphatic system fight infection, destroy cancerous cells, and
dispose of the toxic waste products of cellular functioning.
9 Heart StartWhen you regularly get your heart rate into the
aerobic range, you lower your risk of heart attack and can relieve
depression. While not all yoga is aerobic, if you do it vigorously or
take flow or Ashtanga classes, it can boost your heart rate into the
aerobic range. But even yoga exercises that don't get your heart rate
up that high can improve cardiovascular conditioning. Studies have
found that yoga practice lowers the resting heart rate, increases
endurance, and can improve your maximum uptake of oxygen during
exercise all reflections of improved aerobic conditioning. One study
found that subjects who were taught only pranayama could do more
exercise with less oxygen.
10 Pressure DropIf you've got high blood pressure, you might
benefit from yoga. Two studies of people with hypertension, published
in the British medical journal The Lancet, compared the effects of
Savasana (Corpse Pose) with simply lying on a couch. After three
months, Savasana was associated with a 26-point drop in systolic blood
pressure (the top number) and a 15-point drop in diastolic blood
pressure (the bottom number) and the higher the initial blood pressure,
the bigger the drop.
11 Worry ThwartsYoga lowers cortisol levels. If that doesn't
sound like much, consider this. Normally, the adrenal glands secrete
cortisol in response to an acute crisis, which temporarily boosts
immune function. If your cortisol levels stay high even after the
crisis, they can compromise the immune system. Temporary boosts of
cortisol help with long-term memory, but chronically high levels
undermine memory and may lead to permanent changes in the brain.
Additionally, excessive cortisol has been linked with major depression,
osteoporosis (it extracts calcium and other minerals from bones and
interferes with the laying down of new bone), high blood pressure, and
insulin resistance. In rats, high cortisol levels lead to what
researchers call "food-seeking behavior" (the kind that drives you to
eat when you're upset, angry, or stressed). The body takes those extra
calories and distributes them as fat in the abdomen, contributing to
weight gain and the risk of diabetes and heart attack.
12 Happy HourFeeling sad? Sit in Lotus. Better yet, rise up
into a backbend or soar royally into King Dancer Pose. While it's not
as simple as that, one study found that a consistent yoga practice
improved depression and led to a significant increase in serotonin
levels and a decrease in the levels of monoamine oxidase (an enzyme
that breaks down neurotransmitters) and cortisol. At the University of
Wisconsin, Richard Davidson, Ph.D., found that the left prefrontal
cortex showed heightened activity in meditators, a finding that has
been correlated with greater levels of happiness and better immune
function. More dramatic left-sided activation was found in dedicated,
long-term practitioners.
13 Weighty MattersMove more, eat less'that's the adage of many
a dieter. Yoga can help on both fronts. A regular practice gets you
moving and burns calories, and the spiritual and emotional dimensions
of your practice may encourage you to address any eating and weight
problems on a deeper level. Yoga may also inspire you to become a more
conscious eater.
14 Low ShowYoga lowers blood sugar and LDL ("bad") cholesterol
and boosts HDL ("good") cholesterol. In people with diabetes, yoga has
been found to lower blood sugar in several ways: by lowering cortisol
and adrenaline levels, encouraging weight loss, and improving
sensitivity to the effects of insulin. Get your blood sugar levels
down, and you decrease your risk of diabetic complications such as
heart attack, kidney failure, and blindness.
15 Brain WavesAn important component of yoga is focusing on
the present. Studies have found that regular yoga practice improves
coordination, reaction time, memory, and even IQ scores. People who
practice Transcendental Meditation demonstrate the ability to solve
problems and acquire and recall information better probably because
they're less distracted by their thoughts, which can play over and over
like an endless tape loop.
16 Nerve CenterYoga encourages you to relax, slow your breath,
and focus on the present, shifting the balance from the sympathetic
nervous system (or the fight-or-flight response) to the parasympathetic
nervous system. The latter is calming and restorative; it lowers
breathing and heart rates, decreases blood pressure, and increases
blood flow to the intestines and reproductive organs comprising what
Herbert Benson, M.D., calls the relaxation response.
17 Space PlaceRegularly practicing yoga increases
proprioception (the ability to feel what your body is doing and where
it is in space) and improves balance. People with bad posture or
dysfunctional movement patterns usually have poor proprioception, which
has been linked to knee problems and back pain. Better balance could
mean fewer falls. For the elderly, this translates into more
independence and delayed admission to a nursing home or never entering
one at all. For the rest of us, postures like Tree Pose can make us
feel less wobbly on and off the mat.
18 Control CenterSome advanced yogis can control their bodies
in extraordinary ways, many of which are mediated by the nervous
system. Scientists have monitored yogis who could induce unusual heart
rhythms, generate specific brain-wave patterns, and, using a meditation
technique, raise the temperature of their hands by 15 degrees
Fahrenheit. If they can use yoga to do that, perhaps you could learn to
improve blood flow to your pelvis if you're trying to get pregnant or
induce relaxation when you're having trouble falling asleep.
19 Loose LimbsDo you ever notice yourself holding the
telephone or a steering wheel with a death grip or scrunching your face
when staring at a computer screen? These unconscious habits can lead to
chronic tension, muscle fatigue, and soreness in the wrists, arms,
shoulders, neck, and face, which can increase stress and worsen your
mood. As you practice yoga, you begin to notice where you hold tension:
It might be in your tongue, your eyes, or the muscles of your face and
neck. If you simply tune in, you may be able to release some tension in
the tongue and eyes. With bigger muscles like the quadriceps,
trapezius, and buttocks, it may take years of practice to learn how to
relax them.
20 Chill PillStimulation is good, but too much of it taxes the
nervous system. Yoga can provide relief from the hustle and bustle of
modern life. Restorative asana, yoga nidra (a form of guided
relaxation), Savasana, pranayama, and meditation encourage pratyahara,
a turning inward of the senses, which provides downtime for the nervous
system. Another by-product of a regular yoga practice, studies suggest,
is better sleep which means you'll be less tired and stressed and less
likely to have accidents.
21 Immune BoonAsana and pranayama probably improve immune
function, but, so far, meditation has the strongest scientific support
in this area. It appears to have a beneficial effect on the functioning
of the immune system, boosting it when needed (for example, raising
antibody levels in response to a vaccine) and lowering it when needed
(for instance, mitigating an inappropriately aggressive immune function
in an autoimmune disease like psoriasis).
22 Breathing RoomYogis tend to take fewer breaths of greater
volume, which is both calming and more efficient. A 1998 study
published in The Lancet taught a yogic technique known as "complete
breathing" to people with lung problems due to congestive heart
failure. After one month, their average respiratory rate decreased from
13.4 breaths per minute to 7.6. Meanwhile, their exercise capacity
increased significantly, as did the oxygen saturation of their blood.
In addition, yoga has been shown to improve various measures of lung
function, including the maximum volume of the breath and the efficiency
of the exhalation. Yoga also promotes breathing through the nose, which
filters the air, warms it (cold, dry air is more likely to trigger an
asthma attack in people who are sensitive), and humidifies it, removing
pollen and dirt and other things you'd rather not take into your lungs.
23 Poop ScoopUlcers, irritable bowel syndrome, constipation
all of these can be exacerbated by stress. So if you stress less,
you'll suffer less. Yoga, like any physical exercise, can ease
constipation and theoretically lower the risk of colon cancer because
moving the body facilitates more rapid transport of food and waste
products through the bowels. And, although it has not been studied
scientifically, yogis suspect that twisting poses may be beneficial in
getting waste to move through the system.
24 Peace of MindYoga quells the fluctuations of the mind,
according to Patanjali's Yoga Sutra. In other words, it slows down the
mental loops of frustration, regret, anger, fear, and desire that can
cause stress. And since stress is implicated in so many health problems
from migraines and insomnia to lupus, MS, eczema, high blood pressure,
and heart attacks if you learn to quiet your mind, you'll be likely to
live longer and healthier.
25 Divine SignMany of us suffer from chronic low self-esteem.
If you handle this negatively^take drugs, overeat, work too hard, sleep
around you may pay the price in poorer health physically, mentally, and
spiritually. If you take a positive approach and practice yoga, you'll
sense, initially in brief glimpses and later in more sustained views,
that you're worthwhile or, as yogic philosophy teaches, that you are a
manifestation of the Divine. If you practice regularly with an
intention of self-examination and betterment not just as a substitute
for an aerobics class you can access a different side of yourself.
You'll experience feelings of gratitude, empathy, and forgiveness, as
well as a sense that you're part of something bigger. While better
health is not the goal of spirituality, it's often a by-product, as
documented by repeated scientific studies.
26 Pain DrainYoga can ease your pain. According to several
studies, asana, meditation, or a combination of the two, reduced pain
in people with arthritis, back pain, fibromyalgia, carpal tunnel
syndrome, and other chronic conditions. When you relieve your pain,
your mood improves, you're more inclined to be active, and you don't
need as much medication.
27 Heat TreatmentYoga can help you make changes in your life.
In fact, that might be its greatest strength. Tapas, the Sanskrit word
for "heat," is the fire, the discipline that fuels yoga practice and
that regular practice builds. The tapas you develop can be extended to
the rest of your life to overcome inertia and change dysfunctional
habits. You may find that without making a particular effort to change
things, you start to eat better, exercise more, or finally quit smoking
after years of failed attempts.
28 Guru GiftsGood yoga teachers can do wonders for your
health. Exceptional ones do more than guide you through the postures.
They can adjust your posture, gauge when you should go deeper in poses
or back off, deliver hard truths with compassion, help you relax, and
enhance and personalize your practice. A respectful relationship with a
teacher goes a long way toward promoting your health.
29 Drug FreeIf your medicine cabinet looks like a pharmacy,
maybe it's time to try yoga. Studies of people with asthma, high blood
pressure, Type II diabetes (formerly called adult-onset diabetes), and
obsessive-compulsive disorder have shown that yoga helped them lower
their dosage of medications and sometimes get off them entirely. The
benefits of taking fewer drugs? You'll spend less money, and you're
less likely to suffer side effects and risk dangerous drug interactions.
30 Hostile MakeoverYoga and meditation build awareness. And
the more aware you are, the easier it is to break free of destructive
emotions like anger. Studies suggest that chronic anger and hostility
are as strongly linked to heart attacks as are smoking, diabetes, and
elevated cholesterol. Yoga appears to reduce anger by increasing
feelings of compassion and interconnection and by calming the nervous
system and the mind. It also increases your ability to step back from
the drama of your own life, to remain steady in the face of bad news or
unsettling events. You can still react quickly when you need to and
there's evidence that yoga speeds reaction time but you can take that
split second to choose a more thoughtful approach, reducing suffering
for yourself and others.
31 Good RelationsLove may not conquer all, but it certainly
can aid in healing. Cultivating the emotional support of friends,
family, and community has been demonstrated repeatedly to improve
health and healing. A regular yoga practice helps develop friendliness,
compassion, and greater equanimity. Along with yogic philosophy's
emphasis on avoiding harm to others, telling the truth, and taking only
what you need, this may improve many of your relationships.
32 Sound SystemThe basics of yoga asana, pranayama, and
meditation all work to improve your health, but there's more in the
yoga toolbox. Consider chanting. It tends to prolong exhalation, which
shifts the balance toward the parasympathetic nervous system. When done
in a group, chanting can be a particularly powerful physical and
emotional experience. A recent study from Sweden's Karolinska Institute
suggests that humming sounds like those made while chanting Om open the
sinuses and facilitate drainage.
33 Vision QuestIf you contemplate an image in your mind's eye,
as you do in yoga nidra and other practices, you can effect change in
your body. Several studies have found that guided imagery reduced
postoperative pain, decreased the frequency of headaches, and improved
the quality of life for people with cancer and HIV.
34 Clean MachineKriyas, or cleansing practices, are another
element of yoga. They include everything from rapid breathing exercises
to elaborate internal cleansings of the intestines. Jala neti, which
entails a gentle lavage of the nasal passages with salt water, removes
pollen and viruses from the nose, keeps mucus from building up, and
helps drains the sinuses.
35 Karma ConceptKarma yoga (service to others) is integral to
yogic philosophy. And while you may not be inclined to serve others,
your health might improve if you do. A study at the University of
Michigan found that older people who volunteered a little less than an
hour per week were three times as likely to be alive seven years later.
Serving others can give meaning to your life, and your problems may not
seem so daunting when you see what other people are dealing with.
36 Healing HopeIn much of conventional medicine, most patients
are passive recipients of care. In yoga, it's what you do for yourself
that matters. Yoga gives you the tools to help you change, and you
might start to feel better the first time you try practicing. You may
also notice that the more you commit to practice, the more you benefit.
This results in three things: You get involved in your own care, you
discover that your involvement gives you the power to effect change,
and seeing that you can effect change gives you hope. And hope itself
can be healing.
37 Connective TissueAs you read all the ways yoga
improves your health, you probably noticed a lot of overlap. That's
because they're intensely interwoven. Change your posture and you
change the way you breathe. Change your breathing and you change your
nervous system. This is one of the great lessons of yoga: Everything is
connected your hipbone to your anklebone, you to your community, your
community to the world. This interconnection is vital to understanding
yoga. This holistic system simultaneously taps into many mechanisms
that have additive and even multiplicative effects. This synergy may be
the most important way of all that yoga heals.
38 Placebo PowerJust believing you will get better can make
you better. Unfortunately, many conventional scientists believe that if
something works by eliciting the placebo effect, it doesn't count. But
most patients just want to get better, so if chanting a mantra like you
might do at the beginning or end of yoga class or throughout a
meditation or in the course of your day facilitates healing, even if
it's just a placebo effect, why not do it?
5 Spinal disks the shock absorbers between the vertebrae that can
herniate and compress nerves crave movement. That's the only way they
get their nutrients. If you've got a well-balanced asana practice with
plenty of backbends, forward bends, and twists, you'll help keep your
disks supple.
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