Did you know yoga changes your life? It’s an amazing, simple, powerful, and readily available practice. Here’s how to use it for your benefit.
Yoga Changes Your Life: Try These Simple, Powerful Ways
Life today is highly stressful. So, no wonder many turn to yoga to find relief. Besides its remarkable ability to reduce stress, yoga changes your life. Therefore, here’s a brief look at what yoga is, how it works, the different types, and how yoga’s powerful benefits can help you.
What is Yoga?
With its Indian origins thousands of years ago, yoga is an ancient practice that flourishes today. About one in seven adults in America regularly practice some form of yoga. Whether for overall well-being, combating pain, alleviating symptoms of anxiety and depression, or rehabbing addiction or substance abuse, yoga has a prominent place in today’s society. Yoga can help you live a longer, happier, and more fulfilling life.
Yoga Changes Your Life: How Yoga Works
The practice of yoga combines meditation or relaxation techniques, physical postures, and breathing techniques. Although each practice is different, all offer benefits:
- Improving flexibility, balance, strength, and endurance
- Coping with stress
- Calming the mind
- Releasing muscle tightness and tension
- Improving overall well-being
It can be gentle and slow, or faster and more challenging. However, yoga has attracted millions of adherents and practitioners in its 5,000-+ years of existence. Besides, yoga is an excellent way to stop worrying and enjoy life more.
What Yoga Can Be Used to Treat
Extensively researched, yoga helps combat symptoms of chronic pain, stress, and certain mental health disorders and conditions. Also, yoga increases well-being and restores balance (physically and in life). Consequently, many practice yoga to help them cope with stress, daily concerns, unexpected problems or issues, grief, and loneliness.
Moreover, yoga helps lower resting heart rate, cholesterol, and blood pressure. Also, some research shows that yoga helps with breast cancer, heart disease, and other cardiovascular conditions. Besides, yoga may ease chronic lower back pain.
How Yoga Changes Your Life for Anxiety
Research published in Frontiers in Psychiatry found that yoga and physical exercise improve anxiety and depression. Furthermore, researchers say that yoga therapy effectively decreases symptomology of anxiety and depression. Moreover, a combination of mindfulness meditation and body-awareness yoga asanas reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. Yoga therapy is also beneficial for overall mental health.
Yoga for Depression
A 2020 study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that integrating yoga with psychiatric care may help reduce symptoms of depression and other mental health disorders. The review also found frequent weekly yoga sessions significantly reduced depressive symptoms. Besides, exercise and mindfulness are “singular therapies for improving depressive symptoms.”
Yoga for Addiction
Yoga and mindfulness are considered effective complementary therapies for treating various addictions. Clinical studies on alcohol and substance use treatment find yoga and mindfulness effective in targeting addiction and relapse processes. Moreover, these include psychological, physiological, neural, and behavioral. Consequently, yoga therapy is a powerful adjunct tool for recovery.
How Yoga Changes Your Life: Use Different Types
Also, there are many different types of yoga, several of which can be incorporated into physical therapy yoga, yoga therapy, and integrative yoga therapy.
Hatha yoga
Although considered the slowest, it is a good beginning practice and valuable for meditative and restorative yoga objectives.
Vinyasa Yoga
Vinyasa yoga classes tend to be active, quickly moving from one pose to another. The key focus is on breathwork and awareness. However, there’s power Vinyasa yoga for those who want a more energetic workout.
Iyengar Yoga
Developed by B.K.S. Iyengar, this type uses proper body alignment to balance strength and flexibility. Besides, it is mostly studio-taught, and it is considered a good yoga practice for overcoming physical injuries.
Bikram Yoga
Bikram Choudhury developed Bikram yoga. Also, this popular practice involves 26 yoga poses in a room heated to 105 degrees.
Hot Yoga
Similarly to Bikram yoga, hot yoga is excellent for improving flexibility, similar to Bikram yoga. However, although both occur in heated rooms, hot yoga rooms can be between 90 and 105 degrees. Since muscles tend to get very warm with hot yoga, be careful not to pull a muscle.
Kundalini Yoga
Considered a spiritual practice, Kundalini yoga typically involves chanting, breathing, and meditation.
Ashtanga Yoga
Sri K. Pattabhi Jois created this practice. It has three series: primary, intermediate, and advanced. Also, endurance, strength, and a commitment to practicing multiple days a week are required.
More Yoga Practices
Meanwhile, as yoga continues to evolve, so do the different types. Therefore, here are some other yoga practices to explore. Also, my thanks to Lauren Howard for the excellent list:
- Yin Yoga
- Power Yoga
- Restorative Yoga
- Prenatal Yoga
- Aerial Yoga
- AcroYoga
- Jivamukty Yoga
- Anusara Yoga
- Sivananda Yoga
- Yang Yoga
- Buti Yoga
- Karma Yoga
- Viniyoga
- Tantra Yoga
With so many types of yoga available, isn’t it time to experience how yoga changes your life?
