If you want to achieve peace and a great workout, yoga on down to your nearest yoga class.
Yoga is a low-impact, non-aerobic method of exercising with the classical techniques dating back more than 5,000 years. The word yoga means ‘to join or yoke together’ and it is a stretching class you can do on your own or with a group. The stretching exercises bring the mind, spirit and body together. Find out more about the physical and psychological benefits of yoga.
Weight management
Done regularly you will see the benefits of yoga on the scales. The exercise performed in conjunction with a well balanced diet can aid in weight loss, fat burning and toning the body. While not all yoga styles are aerobic, if you practice vinyasa or astanga classes, you can boost your heart rate into the aerobic range. You can also accelerate your weight loss by combining yoga with a cardio and weights program.
Increasing flexibility
Yoga promotes flexibility and suppleness of the joints. It is common knowledge that stretching keeps the body limber and yoga is a range of different stretches. You will notice as you continue doing yoga classes on a regular basis that your flexibility will increase. The benefits of yoga will include lengthening the muscles, tendons, and ligaments in your body to help you become more supple.
Increased strength
The variety of yoga poses that you do in a class uses all the different muscles in the body and helps to increase your strength level. The exercises done in yoga are designed to build up your core strength which provides a solid foundation from everything from weight training to housework. Core strength improves stabilisation and support to the spine and can relieve lower back pain, a common injury suffered by adults.
Stress management and relaxation
As well as the physical benefits, yoga promotes stress management and relaxation. A lot of people do this floor exercise purely for the psychological benefits it brings. With a growing body of research supporting yoga’s mental health benefits, psychologists are weaving the practice into their work with clients to cope with stress and anxieties, improve their personal and professional relationships and even heal emotional wounds.
Inner peace
Yoga is well documented for restoring balance and harmony. The two systems of exercise and breathing prepare the body and mind for meditation, with an approach to a quiet mind that allows silence and healing. It can take you to a place far away from the daily anxieties of work and home life. When practiced regularly, yoga can become a powerful discipline for achieving physical, mental and emotional well being.
Yoga is a fun exercise that can be done in a heated studio, outside on the grass or in the privacy of your own home regardless of your age or fitness level. The bare essentials you need are workout clothing and a mat, you don’t even require exercise shoes. So if you’re looking for a fun and social exercise program that doesn’t cost a lot but brings numerous benefits, yoga might be just what you are looking for.