Yoga is one of the most ancient traditions of the world. The origination of this art goes far back around 5000 years ago, in the regions of Indus-Sarasvati civilization of northern India. The magnificence of this art and its health benefits were even mentioned in Upanishads. The Upanishads described yoga as the sacrifice of ego and self-pride through knowledge, action, and wisdom.
There are innumerable forms of Yoga, all having different impacts on the body and mind. But all of them originated from the four basic Yoga or as the books say the four paths of life. Which are-
Karma yoga or the path of action.
Bhakti yoga or the path of devotion.
Jnana yoga or the path of wisdom and knowledge.
Raja yoga or the path of self-love and personal enlightenment.
Before we go on to the benefit of yoga on our mental and physical health, we need to know a bit more about our body and the energy that it stores. Our body is a warehouse of energies. Every organ and every physical process emits and absorbs the energy produced in the body. When suddenly one part of the body gets a restricted-energy flow, we fall sick. These energies have been described as chakras (literal meaning disks or wheel). There are seven major chakras in our bodies in a vertical way. Yoga flexes the energy flow and stabilizes the chakras enabling you to have better health both physically and mentally.
Now, let's go to the direct benefits of yoga on your health-
Muscles
Muscle flexibility is another benefit of yoga. Repetitive actions of yoga, like the Suryanamskar (Sun Salutation), flexes and stretches your full body muscle. While toning and strengthening them at the same point, without the cost of having muscle aches afterward.
Respiration
Yoga also helps in your respiration process making your lungs strong (which is very much needed in the current situation). Practicing enhanced respiration through yoga you are also adding on increased vitality to the benefits. Yogic breathing is also called pranayama and mornings are the best time to practice this. Preferably in someplace where the air is cleaner.
Metabolism
The forms of yoga also help in maintaining your metabolism, by having a direct effect on the Solar Plexus Chakra, which is also called the abdomen chakra. This energy wheel is one of the most important for the body and can do miracles when treated well through yoga. People of my age maximum of the time get riled up in work and ignores healthy eating habits resulting in low metabolism, so it is necessary for us to practice yoga to keep the body balance in place.
Weight
Yoga helps in weight management. Forms like power yoga or hot yoga (when yoga is done in a very warm ambiance to enhance the sweating procedure) help massively in losing weight if practiced regularly with a proper diet.
Heart
With so much pollution and rush around us, we never get time to take care of our cardiovascular health and in the later ages wonder where we went wrong. Practicing yoga every day or at certain intervals in the first step of having better cardio health. Because emotional heartbreak can still be tolerated but a real “heartbreak” can take life.
Healing
For athletes, yoga has always proven to be very nurturing and soothing. Yoga helps in mending the wear and tear of the muscles and enables your body to enter a detox phase.
Stress
One thing that we always complain about is stress. Stress results in less sleep, unhealthy weight gain, depression, and many other mental health problems, few of which even leads people to give up hope completely. Yoga is good medicine for stress. Yoga helps in releasing stress, making your body and muscles more relaxed. A 30 minutes yoga session after a rough day, soothes the nervous system, and makes you feel more alive.
But like every other workout, yoga also comes with some terms and conditions like-
Don’t overdo it. Overdoing anything leads to negative results.
Give your body time to recover. Jumping into something can make things worse for you.
Consult with a professional before taking any step. Don’t trust the internet always.
Maintain a healthy diet along with practicing yoga.
Start slow then pace up according to your body’s capacity.
If you start feeling uncomfortable, tell your trainer immediately.
Make sure you are not practicing your forms near to objects which can be proven fatal to you if you lose balance.
Wear proper clothes which will enable you to stretch more.
Pay proper attention to your breathing and the guidelines of your trainer.
Yoga is a type of self-love and care. The more you practice it the more confident you get and the more you start loving your body. We do so many things for so many people round the clock, can't we even take 30 minutes off the clock just for us?
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