Study: My Understanding of Wellness
Yoga has been around for thousands of years. And its existence today is due to the many benefits that it offers to those who practice it.
The physical benefits of practicing yoga include increased flexibility, improved cardiovascular health, enhanced muscle tone, and more. Aside from physical benefits, yoga also has mental benefits which are less apparent. With yoga, your stress level is reduced and your mental well-being is improved. Yoga may have many benefits to your body, but it has benefits to your brain as well.
Your brain is a highly interconnected system which is capable of doing things. Yoga is a tool that can alter our way of thinking. This can help alter your behavior and improve overall brain health.
Here are some of the other benefits of yoga to the brain.
One benefit of yoga to your brain is its calming effect. In this world, we experience many things that cause us stress. Constant stress affects our mental well-being. It affects our physical health. If your mind is always stressed, then it can lead to negative thoughts which give you much anxiety.
When yoga calms you down you can then benefit from deep breathing and experience the power of de-stressing. Yoga teaches you techniques that can help you break down old habits that lead to stress and negativity in a natural way.
Sometimes because of stress, you are unable to focus. This can be fixed by doing 20 minutes of yoga. With yoga, your mind is calmed and it helps you to focus since distracting thoughts are eliminated. You focus on your body, breath, and posture during your yoga session. Stress is reduced when self-awareness is enhanced and when there are meditation and breathing exercises.
Yoga is able to treat some mental health disorders. People with bipolar disorder can be helped with yoga. Yoga helps them reduce feelings of anxiety and they improve cognitive functioning. The physical effects of yoga include increased energy and weight loss.
Increased happiness is experienced after each yoga session. Yoga encourages a positive state of mind and this has been backed up by research. Mindfulness is achieved with yoga and this can make you a happier person.
Yoga does not only have a calming effect that makes you happier but it also alters your brain. Compared to others, people who practiced yoga regularly have more gray matter or brain cells in many different parts of the brain as seen on MRI scans. Studies have shown that the more hours you do yoga a week, the more enlarged certain areas of the brain will be.
So, if you feel stressed each day, take a few minutes of each day to practice yoga. Even just 20 to 30 minutes will do. Regular yoga sessions will greatly benefit your body and your mind.