Yoga is a mental, spiritual and physical union practice that originated in India and is known for its health and relaxation benefits. The most common types of Yoga are called Raja and Hatha. When practicing Yoga, the mind, breath, and body become a union. Here are our top health benefits of of doing Yoga once you start practicing.

1. Yoga improves flexibility

Improved flexibility is the first and the obvious thing that will happen once you start doing yoga. During the first classes, you might not be able to touch your toes or do a backbend. Well, there is no need to strain yourself since your body will start to loosen gradually and eventually what seemed impossible will be possible. During the first week of yoga, you are expected to have some pain due to muscle stretch. A tight hip bone will strain the knee joint because the shinbones and the thigh are not appropriately aligned.

2. Yoga helps to drop your blood pressure

People with blood pressure benefit when they practice yoga. British medical journal did two studies on people with hypertension. They compared effects of the Corpse pose (also known as Savasana) by merely lying on the couch. Savasana dropped with 26 points after three months. A drop of 15 points of diastolic blood pressure was also recorded. If the initial blood pressure is high, the drop will be bigger.

3. Yoga builds muscle strength

Strong muscles look good! They protect your body from conditions such as back pain and arthritis. A good Yoga burn also helps in prevention of falls in the elderly. Through the exercise, you not only build up muscles, but you also gain higher flexibility.

4. Yoga perfects your posture

When you balance your head directly over the spine, your back muscles and neck will take less work to support it. Poor postures cause neck, back, and other joint problems. When you slump, the body tends to compensate when it flattens the normal inward curve in your lower back and your neck. If you need a program to start with, have a look at this review website on Yoga Burn.

5. Yoga prevents joint and cartilage breakdown

When doing your regular Yoga burn, you usually take your joints to their full motion range. Squeezing cartilage areas that are not being used help in the prevention of degenerative arthritis or prevention of mitigating a disability. Joint cartilage receives fresh nutrients once the fluid has been squeezed out and allowing new fluid to be soaked in since joint cartilage functions like a sponge. Yoga helps to prevent wearing out cartilage areas by avoiding exposure of the underlying bone.

6. Yoga helps to protect the spine

The spinal disks which are the shock absorbers in between the vertebrae they herniate and compress the nerves. To keep your disks supple you need to practice asana and do plenty of forwarding bends, back bends, and twists.

7. Yoga ups your heart rates

When you get your heart rate regularly into the aerobic range, trust me you will lower the risks of getting a heart attack, and it will help in relieving depression. Since not all yogas are aerobic, you are advised to do yoga vigorously or take Ashtanga classes which help in boosting your heart rate to aerobic. Research done has shown that yoga lowers the rate at which the heart rests, and it improves your maximum oxygen uptake during the exercise. People who have been taught pranayama only, they can do a lot of exercises with a little amount of oxygen.

8. Yoga helps to relax your system

Due to the meditative aspect of Yoga, it trains you to be present and slow your breath. By doing it, your body shifts to the parasympathetic nervous system from the sympathetic nervous system. This helps to lower heart and breathing rates.

9. Yoga helps boost your immune system

Doing twisting, back bend, calming and inverting in yoga the body spends more time in the parasympathetic nervous system and less time in the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system causes inflammation, stress and it lowers immune system dramatically.

10. Yoga helps to soothe your skin.

Skin if one of the places that will display signs of stress first. To reduce acne and eczema conditions you need to practice the calming aspects of yoga. These elements include meditation and pranayama, and they usually reduce stress levels.

I’m not sure how to begin, but Yoga is one of my big passions in life and I’ve long since been thinking about starting a blog. I used to be on tumblr and other social media a lot, but having something more serious is way better! That being said, my name is Clara and I am into fitness and healthy living, so I share my passions not only with my friends and family, but online.

For Yoga, I’ve been using this relaxation music from Youtube the last few weeks. Maybe you like it as well 🙂