What is Yoga and How Can it Help You?
Yoga is one of the most popular and practiced disciplines of recent years. The philosophy of yoga originated in India, and is closely related to practices such as, meditation and Buddhism. The goal of yoga is for the practitioner to achieve a perfect balance between the mind and body.
What is yoga?
A lot of people practice yoga and it consists of traditional exercises. Achieving a high level of concentration through meditation, is the main goal. The priority is to seek Spiritual well-being; connecting the mind with the inner self and finding inner peace.
What’s more, the mind is the main focus, even more so than the poses and physical well-being. In fact, some researchers believe that modern yoga, practiced by millions of people around the world, is an evolution of the ancient philosophy.
Where did the exercises originate from? The vast majority of yoga poses came from Swedish gymnastics, which became popular during the second half of the nineteenth century.
There are two basic objectives for the yoga that we practice today. The first is to achieve mental balance, and the second is physical balance through meditation, connecting the body with the spirit and mind.
As we can see, this is a rigorous activity that requires a lot of perseverance and patience to obtain excellent results. The level of difficulty for each of the poses will progressively increase.
Benefits of practicing yoga
Weight loss
Yoga is one of the best practices used for gradual weight loss. The recommended poses to achieve this goal are: Kapalbhati Pranayama (or abdominal breathing), Surya Namaskar and sun salutations.
Lowers anxiety levels
Many people practice yoga as an escape from busy lives and daily stress. The philosophy’s objective focuses on meditation, which in turn, is associated with better control of stress and anxiety.
One of the greatest advantages of practicing yoga is being able to connect and concentrate on your inner self. By doing this, you can reach a state of peace and perfect harmony.
Improves health
The combination between the poses and the mind allows a person to reach an optimal state of health. The main reason for this is by learning to breathe correctly, improving posture, and achieving a state of general well-being. Moreover, the immune system will also benefit from controlled stress levels.
Emotional stability
Undoubtedly, achieving emotional stability is one of yoga’s greatest benefits. Accomplished through meditation and self-knowledge, people who take part in this practice begin a journey of self-exploration. In turn, allowing them to know themselves better, and control their emotions in a more positive way.
Reasons to practice yoga
Relief of contractures
Not only is it possible to improve flexibility through the practice of different poses, but also to find lasting relief from different injuries or contractures. It’s a completely natural method of removing accumulated tension and stress in the body.
More energy
This millennial practice also helps us to achieve higher levels of energy. Furthermore, it’s been proven that exercising daily relieves stress and releases endorphins, which fill athletes with energy and vitality. Additionally, yoga also creates an overall state of well-being and inner peace.
Develops intuition
Yoga manages to naturally develop a person’s intuition through meditation, as well as self-confidence. These two details are key to daily decision making, especially in important situations.
Without a doubt, yoga is one of the most complete workouts that exist today. It achieves an ideal balance between the body and mind, which translates into general well-being. All that we require to enjoy the multiple benefits that yoga has to offer are consistency, focus and concentration.
