Roll out your yoga mats
Here at Glo, we believe that beauty comes from the inside out and the better you feel, the better you look! One of our favorite ways to stay fit, healthy and feel good, is to roll out our yoga mats and start the day with a few sun salutations.
We know that we feel great after a yoga class, whether it's a physically demanding Ashtanga class or a more meditative Yin class, but we decided we wanted to understand a bit more about why yoga makes us feel so good and what other benefits it might have !
Physical benefits
Yoga is great for our bodies helping to develop strength, flexibility and balance, and is great for general fitness. According to Harvard Medical School * yoga can increase muscle strength and endurance, flexibility and cardio-respiratory fitness.
Studies have shown that yoga can lower blood pressure, by helping your body better sense imbalances in blood pressure and regain balance. It can also help improve lipid (fat) levels and reduce blood sugar levels, all of which leads to better cardiovascular health. And a healthy heart and blood flow is vital for a healthy body!
It’s not just cardiologists who are raving about the benefits of yoga, osteopaths also think that yoga is a great form of exercise. According to the American Osteopathic Association**, yoga can help reduce chronic pain while increasing your muscle strength and tone and make you more flexible than before. This can lead to improved athletic performance and make you less susceptible to injury.
People who do yoga on a regular basis are also less likely to get sick, as yoga can help to strengthen the immune system, helping you fight off those pesky colds and flu.
Mental benefits
Did you know that yoga can be very beneficial for our body image?
In yoga class, we’re focussing on our breathing and what our body is doing in the present moment. Our teachers encourage us to listen to our bodies and only push ourselves as much as we feel is right. All of this helps develop our mind and body connection and leads to a better understanding of our bodies. According to studies people who practice yoga are more aware of their bodies and less critical of them. Because of this, yoga is now often included in treatment plans for individuals with eating disorders and body image issues.
Yoga can also help increase mindfulness which will bring benefits to the rest of your life. If you eat in a more mindful way you often eat less and lose weight. If we’re being less mindful we can continue eating after we’re full and we’re more likely to comfort eat when sad or stressed. Research has discovered that people who practice yoga are usually more mindful eaters, and the longer you’ve been practicing the more mindful you’ll become. This, in turn, can lead to weight loss, as you become more aware of your body when it’s full and better able to understand when you want to comfort eat.
Yoga is also a great stress buster, and reducing stress can lead to many other physical and mental benefits. Regular yoga practice can also lead to better concentration, mental clarity, and calmness.
Additional benefits
We’re not sure if this is a mental or physical benefit but apparently practicing yoga can help you with online dating! One of the top online dating sites looked at the most popular words used in dating profiles and they found that people who mention yoga in their profile are ranked amongst the most attractive on the site.
So now you’ve got a date, thanks to your yoga practice, you’ll be pleased to know that it can help your sex life too. Not only do you feel sexier as your body becomes stronger, but with improved flexibility, core stability and strength, sex feels better too!
So if you've never tried yoga now is a great time to begin. With so many different types of yoga, you're sure to find one that suits your lifestyle and fitness level, as there are plenty of classes that welcome total beginners. Please remember to always check with your doctor before starting a new exercise routine.
* https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/yoga-benefits-beyond-the-mat
** https://osteopathic.org/what-is-osteopathic-medicine/benefits-of-yoga/
