Open Body Pose Where Your Whole Body is Opening
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30 benefits of yoga
1. Yoga makes you feel good – simple as that! Pick a suitable class for your level and approach it with an open mind – you’ll feel different, more open, present and happier. If you don’t believe us, try it!
2. Yoga increases your flexibility If you haven’t heard about yoga’s ability to increase flexibility, you might have been living under a rock for the past twenty years 😉 To gain more flexibility, it is worth practicing yoga regularly and consistently in order to build muscle memory; take your time though, and be patient!
3. Yoga improves your strength Yoga isn’t just about stretching and bending, it also requires a surprising amount of strength. Physical strength is important in order to prevent injury, boost the immune system and metabolism and help make everyday tasks easier.
4. Yoga boosts your immune system Any form of movement is great for keeping the immune system healthy. With yoga’s twisting, inverting, back bending, and calming, the body is able to spend more time within the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) and less with the sympathetic nervous system (the fight or flight system, which causes stress and inflammation and dramatically lowers the immune system).
Yoga Japan
Immediate resonance Hakubun Shimomura, a 64-year-old Liberal Democratic Party parliamentarian, elaborated on the resonance that yoga has with Japanese culture. Mr. Shimomura has been practising yoga for about five years and immediately felt a connection, given the centrality of meditation and breathing to Zen Buddhism. Japan’s is the only Parliament with an in-house Yoga Promotion League. Mr. Shimomura who serves as its Chairman, said that the 70-odd members of the group try to meet at least once a month to practise with teachers from the Yoga Organization of Japan. The teachers are certified by the Quality Council of India.
5. Yoga helps you to focus
Because your mind will be quieter and clutter-free it’s easier to direct the energy to where you want it to go. In yoga, they say you develop one-pointedness concentration through practice. You train the mind to become aware and present. Research has shown that after a yoga class you are generally better able to focus your mental resources, process information more accurately, and also learn, hold and update pieces of information more effectively.
6. Yoga changes your energy
If your morning routine starts with dragging yourself out of bed and gulping down a coffee, try ten rounds of Surya Namaskar or some Kapalabhati pranayama, and notice the energizing effects it has on the nervous system. Conversely, if you need a change later on in the day, just a few minutes of asana practice can re-balance the nervous system, calm the mind and give you a different perspective.
7. Yoga boosts your metabolism
A morning yoga practice will help to get the blood, breath, and muscles moving before breakfast, therefore allowing the nutrients from your food to be better absorbed. A strong practice can help build muscle, dramatically boost metabolism, and breathing fully and deeply increases circulation, also helping the metabolism to stay ticking along nicely.
8. Yoga reduces anxiety
Shallow breathing, poor posture, and tense muscles are both results and causes of anxiety. If you’ve been stuck in an anxiety cycle for a long period of time, it’s likely that your body has almost learned to protect itself by remaining tense, physically closed off, and with very short, sharp breaths. The mind and body are so closely interlinked, that physically deepening the breath, improving posture, and relaxing the muscles in a safe space can all help reduce anxiety.
9. Yoga helps you to be more mindful
Mindfulness is a buzzword at the moment and – with all the apps, downloads, classes, and CDs – has become a billion-dollar business. [1] Mindfulness, however, doesn’t have to mean meditating for long periods of time, and it doesn’t have to be something profound that’s difficult to keep up. Being mindful just means paying a little more attention to each action you do, allowing you to be more present, aware, and alive in each moment. Better to be mindful than mind-full…
10. Yoga soothes your skin
The skin is one of the first places in the body to display signs of stress and nutrient deficiency. By practicing a combination of some of the more calming aspects of yoga, such as Pranayama and meditation, as well as an active yoga practice, the body and all its systems receive better circulation and the reduced stress levels can even help reduce conditions like acne and eczema.
