The practice of yoga is well known for its spiritual content, but did you know that there are 5 Scientific Benefits of Yoga for those who include this activity in their routine?
Discover the five scientific benefits of yoga that we are going to discuss here in this content:
1-Improves anxiety and depression.
2- Improves respiratory awareness.
3- Increased body flexibility.
4- Relief of body aches.
5- Stress relief.
Because it is closely linked to a spiritual issue, including many times erroneously related to religion, people end up forgetting the physical advantages and other benefits of yoga can bring to their daily lives. That is, it is essential to reinforce that the practice can help in different areas of each one’s life.
If you are one of those skeptical people, who still cannot understand the whole essence, nor what are the benefits of yoga for life, this content is for you! Here, we’re going to bring proven facts about how the practice can effectively change your life.
Shall we understand better?
Harmony between body, mind, spirit and breath
Before delving into the benefits, it is important to understand that yoga is not a sport, a religion or a therapy (although it often achieves the goals that these other activities have) but rather a practice that aligns our body with mind, spirit and breath.
Due to a hectic routine, full of appointments and stress, we often forget to care for our mind and body. Therefore, yoga is a great solution to escape all the chaos that life gives us.
Inserting the practice of yoga into your routine brings unique advantages and can often solve problems you can’t even imagine!
So let’s better understand what are the five scientific benefits of yoga?
1. Improves Anxiety and Depression
Anxiety is one of the major problems of the current generation. Therefore, in addition to therapy, other activities began to stand out as a solution to alleviate anxiety, such as yoga.
But how can yoga help an anxious person?
Before we talk about it, it’s very important to make it clear that the professional help of a psychologist or psychiatrist is essential for anyone going through this phase. So, if you are looking for solutions to alleviate your anxiety, you can insert yoga into your routine without any problem. But don’t forget: look for a trained professional to help with issues involving anxiety directly.
Anyway, it may be relevant for you to understand the reasons that make the practice bring that feeling of relief!
Basically, this happens because practicing yoga increases the release of some substances that generate well-being, such as GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), serotonin and dopamine, neurotransmitters responsible for controlling our mood and generally used in antidepressants and anxiolytics.
That is, the practice of yoga helps with hormonal regulation, in addition to, of course, making it possible for us to increase our breathing control, providing more calm, a point that we will work on in the next topic!
2. Breathe, Breathe, Breathe: Improved Breathing Awareness
Breathing awareness is one of the first perceived benefits of practicing yoga. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to walk into a studio and practice, you’ve probably noticed.
Usually we are not aware of the way we breathe, and, due to yoga working the body movements always focusing on that point, we end up increasing our respiratory awareness.
And for those suffering from anxiety, for example, breathing can help a lot, as it helps to regulate the nervous system.
3. Increased Body Flexibility
Just like any other physical activity, the benefits of yoga for the body are many. Among them is increased flexibility.
Perhaps this is one of the most obvious benefits, as yoga is known for poses that challenge many people out there! And of course this has the power to increase the flexibility of the body.
In addition, yoga also works with the flexibility of our mind, in order to accept situations and learn to deal with everyday problems.
4. Relief of Bodily Pain
We know that, as life goes by, pains arise. Pain in the back, in the legs, in various parts of the body.
Of course, this usually happens more often in people who do not engage in any physical activity and lead a sedentary lifestyle. But pain can often also be caused by some diseases, such as fibromyalgia and arthritis, for example.
In all cases, both for those who just need an activity and for those who suffer from chronic pain, yoga becomes a great ally to relieve these sensations.
Read Also: Vegetarianism And Yoga: A Relationship Of Conscience
5. Stress Relief
Any activity that takes you out of the stressful routine of your day to day already has the power to make you relax.
And just as yoga manages to combat anxiety and depression, the practice also has many benefits for stress relief. Also, largely because of the hormonal change that a yoga class can bring to your body, but mainly because the practice has the ability to make you stop, take a deep breath and put your thoughts in order.
