The Health Benefits of Yoga, Part II
The Health Benefits of Yoga
Part II
By JSCepeda
Yoga is widely known to reawaken the mental and physical body, when
practiced on a consistent basis, through a series of different asanas
or poses. However, the vast array of benefits range from overall
muscular flexibility to joint mobility and postural alignment.
Athletes benefit from yoga by learning to coordinate breath and
movement. Runners benefit from yoga by opening their hips and lengthen
and strengthening work and tired hamstrings and quads. Golfers benefit
from yoga by strengthening their range of motion in the shoulder
joint. The avid walkers benefit by strengthening calf and the muscles
around the knees, along with strengthening the lower back muscles.
With the amount of beating the human body takes from the excessive
working of the same joints and muscles in an athletes body, yoga
provides the necessary longevity needed to allow them to preform at
their best, with minimizing the amount of injury.
With athletes benefiting from yoga, what about the non-athletes?
Many people are able to reap the physical benefits of yoga as well as
the mental benefits of yoga. Posture and balance are the most
important physical movement, we need as we get older. Practicing yoga
as a means to strengthen our balance and posture, helps us as we get
older by preventing falls and injury. Many older people complain of
feeling unsteady and dizzy sitting down for a long period of time.
Using yoga to help with balance, allows the practitioner to strengthen
leg muscles and build bone mass. It also helps with keeping the fluid
in the joints lubricated, thus enhancing mobility. Strengthening our
bodies using yoga, allows the practitioner to prevent the degenerative
process of age from the wear and tear of everyday use.
Besides physical strength and mobility, yoga aids in mental fatigue
and stress. Stress contributes to many health problems like high blood
pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. While yoga isn’t the
miracle cure for these health problems, it can help lessen the onset
of stress, that promotes these illnesses. The use of gentle yoga poses
can help to relieve the tightness in the body and loosen up the
muscles if we work in an office. Sitting at a desk for a majority of
the day can cause poor circulation, muscles to atrophy and weaken the
muscles in the body. Simple yoga poses done at your desk while sitting
can help to alleviate any long term pain in the muscles and joints.
Cultivating a personal at home yoga practice, doesn’t have to be
hard.
Before you begin any practice, seek the advice of a certified yoga
teacher to help guide you safely and effectively into all the yoga
poses. Once you are comfortable doing them on your own, you can take
your practice to the comforts of your home. A balance between your
home and studio practice, will enable you to practice with confidence.
You will be able to reap the benefits of yoga by gaining overall
physical strength and a peaceful wellbeing.
Sources:
https://nihseniorhealth.gov/balanceproblems/aboutbalanceproblems/01.html
https://www.yogadownload.com/online-yoga-pilatesmeditation-video-and-audio-classes.aspx
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