If you’re looking to improve your health, flexibility and vitality, consider incorporating yoga into your workout routine. Read to discover 10 advantages of yoga.

Many people think that yoga is all about being able to accomplish difficult poses. But yoga is actually a great way to take a break from your busy and chaotic life. It’ a practice that can and should be integrated into your daily lifestyle.

Yoga is a welcoming practice for everyone. You can always find yoga classes tailored to your ability level and personal goals. From increasing pain tolerance to lowering blood pressure, below are the top advantages of yoga.

1. Improves Your Posture

Poor posture can cause neck, back, and other joint and muscle problems. Slumping, for instance, can cause your body to flatten the normal inward curves in your lower back and neck. That may lead to pains and degenerative arthritis of the spine.

Practicing yoga every day helps correct your posture, making it possible to sit up straighter at your desk and walk taller. Yoga can also alleviate aches and pains caused by incorrect body posture.

Most sitting and standing poses improve core strength as you need core muscles to do each pose correctly. With a stronger core, you’ll support and maintain each pose, and you’ll more likely sit and stand straighter.

2. Increases Blood Flow

One of the less obvious advantages of yoga is that it helps improve blood flow. More specifically, relaxation yoga poses can increase circulation in your hands and feet. Twisting poses can wring out venous blood from internal organs and letting in oxygenated blood immediately the twist is released.

Inverted poses like headstand and handstand encourage venous blood from the pelvis and legs to flow back to the heart. Yoga can also help boost levels of red blood cells and hemoglobin, enhancing the movement of oxygen to tissues.

Yoga can make blood less sticky by thinning your blood and reducing the level of clot-promoting proteins in the blood. That may lower your susceptibility to stroke or heart attack.

3. May Help Reduce Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is a persistent problem affecting many people and has several possible causes, from arthritis to injuries. Practicing yoga may help reduce a range of chronic pains. It may also help improve physical abilities in patients with osteoporosis of the knee.

4. Could Promote Sleep Quality

The relaxation that comes when you start doing yoga every day can be beneficial for sleep. Sleep experts recommend doing subtle yoga movements before bedtime to help with insomnia.

Sleeping problems have been linked to depression, high blood pressure, obesity, among other disorders. Practicing relaxing poses, like Forward Fold, can be a great way to help you relax shortly before sleep and possibly prevent contributors to sleep problems.

5. Can Help You Eat Better

Incorporating yoga into your routine may lead to eating more mindfully compared to other workouts. People who practice yoga regularly tend to focus on their breathing and body sensations.

These practices train the brain to pay attention to the things happening to your body, including sensations of hunger and satiety. Over time, you start seeing food as fuel and avoid emotional eating.

6. Improves Strength

When done correctly, almost all styles of yoga builds your core strength in the deep abdominal muscles. That is because when practicing yoga, you use your body weight to increase your strength.

However, some yoga poses, like power yoga and ashtanga, are more vigorous and may provide extra strength. Doing one of these exercises will help improve your muscle tone. But even less physical poses, such as Hatha or Iyengar, can provide endurance and strength benefits.

Several styles of yoga, like Plank Pose, Upward Dog, and the Downward Dog, help build upper-body strength. Other poses, such as Standing Pose and Chair Pose, can also improve strength.

When you hold standing poses for several long breaths, you build strength in your abs, hamstrings, and quadriceps.  The Chair Pose, on the other hand, helps strengthen the lower back.

7. Helps in Weight Loss

The more physical styles of yoga will help you burn lots of calories. It can help keep weight gain at bay. Power Yoga, Vinyasa, Ashtanga provide a great way to burn calories.

Restorative yoga, which isn’t a vigorous type, can still help you with your weight loss. Also, daily yoga can help improve your body’s hormonal balance, which can normalize your body weight.

8. Teaches You How to Breathe

Many people never really take note of their breathing which can lead to rapid breathing, short exhalations, and shallow breathing. Breathing correctly can help build endurance, boost performance, and keep your heart and lungs healthy.

Yoga helps you regulate your breathing through a series of breathing poses. Yogic breathing can significantly improve the amount of air you expel from the lungs.  That is particularly important for patients with heart problems, lung disease, and asthma.

9. Regulates Adrenal Glands

In times of acute crisis, your adrenal glands release cortisol which temporarily improves immune function. If your cortisol levels remain high even after a crisis, your immune system may be compromised.

Practicing yoga every day can help lower cortisol levels. Excessive cortisol has been linked with memory problems, insulin resistance, and major depression. Sudarshan Kriya, a type of pose that focuses on breathing, can help people with depression.

10. Improves Self Confidence

Practicing yoga boosts your mind-body connection, making you more aware of your body. During practice, you learn to do small, subtle movements meant to improve your alignment. That helps you become better in touch with your physical being.

Doing yoga is a learning process that helps you accept your body as it is. The more you practice, the more you feel comfortable in your skin, and this increases your self-confidence.

Learn About the Advantages of Yoga

Yoga is an ancient philosophy that can improve your mental and physical health and prepare your body for long-term health. Thankfully, anyone can do yoga regardless of their generation or fitness level. Practice the styles that work for you, and soon you’ll experience the many advantages of yoga.

For more advice on improving healthy living in your life, check out our specialties for extra support.