Benefits of Yoga
Yoga and its cleansing practices have been proven to be extremely beneficial for the body, mind and soul. Some of the benefits are:
Increased Flexibility
Yoga postures (asanas) increase lubrication within various joints, ligaments and tendons. The stretching actions help maintain good mobility, range of movement, increases blood flow, which facilitates proper healing.
Improves muscle tone
Yoga builds strong muscles and bones along with improving circulation and neurological activity. Yoga builds toned muscles, rather than bulky muscles. It stretches your muscles lengthwise causing fat to be eliminated around the cells, thus reducing cellulite. Muscles that become flaccid and weak are stimulated repeatedly which sheds flab, flaccidity and creates a more lean and toned physique.
Helps balance emotions
When practicing yoga you are constantly focusing on your breath. This action calms the mind and brings you to a conscious state. In the conscious state is where you can be aware of your emotions and gain control over them. Yoga also increases the health of the adrenal glands and during your practice the entire nervous system is simulated and nourished, which then enhance your mood, calms anxiety and decreases depression.
Massaging vital organs
Yoga is one of the few exercises that massage all the internal glands and organs of the body. This stimulation of the glands and vital organs bring fresh blood and oxygen to them. This massaging action also frees stagnant and dormant energy in the body, which keeps us away from disease and disorder. By massaging our organs regularly in practice, we become more intuitively aware of them and this gives us an awareness (forewarning) at the first possible sign of a likely on set of disease and disorder.
Self acceptance
Yoga has a huge effect on your ability to accept and love yourself. Building a strong self acceptance is one of the more challenging things for people to learn. Each yoga practice you do will be different from the one before. For example during one of your practices you may feel relaxed, confident, happy, and have a deep sense of inner peace. The next practice you may feel tense, sad and only be able to focus on what you can’t do that day. Over time you will start to listen more to your breath, and less on the thoughts of negative emotions, yoga will make you more limber, and relaxed, teaching you to accept yourself and love your body for both it’s strengths and weaknesses. When there is a strong connection with the mind and body. (which yoga helps you develop), these psychological benefits start to occur. Other benefits include, rational clarity, improved memory and concentration, a greater awareness of who you are, and a sense of unity between yourself and the universe.