The Goddess Psyche

Yoga is by far the absolute best thing you can do for your health and spiritual wellbeing! In this post learn about the numerous benefits this incredibly powerful exercise offers!

What is yoga?

First and foremost, yoga is a mental, physical, and spiritual exercise. This exercise consists of low-impact physical activity such as holding postures called asanas, breathing techniques called pranayama, and meditation. The goal of yoga is to achieve complete harmony and balance with your mind, body, and soul.

Health Benefits of yoga

Flexibility

One of the most obvious health benefits of yoga is improved flexibility! Flexibility is extremely important for healthy muscles and tissues as ‘tight’ muscles cause horrible aches and pains – practice yoga daily to lessen tight muscles.

Strength

Having the proper amount of muscle strength is vital for healthy bones and aging. Yoga is perfect for building muscle as you are using your body weight yet at the same time keeping your muscles lean with stretching.

Joint Health

Every time you practice yoga, your joints go through their full range of motion. This “squeezes and soaks” areas of cartilage that normally isn’t used to help prevent arthritis or disability.

Blood Flow

Yoga gets your blood flowing as the increased circulation increases oxygen in your blood cells. Twist poses are said to wring out venous blood from internal organs which allow oxygenated blood to flow in. Inverted poses stimulate venous blood from the legs and pelvis to flow back to the heart where it will be pumped to the lungs to be freshly oxygenated. 

Drains your Lymphs

Lymph is a viscous fluid rich in immune cells. When you contract and stretch muscles, move organs around, and come in and out of yoga postures, you stimulate drainage of lymph. This helps the lymphatic system fight infection, destroy cancerous cells, and dispose of toxicity in the body.

Spiritual Benefits

Peace of Mind

According to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, yoga slows the negative movement of the mind. In other words, the regular practice of yoga slows down the emotions of frustration, regret, anger, fear, and stress.

Awareness

It is proven that yoga and meditation build awareness. Having a strong awareness is vital to discover what destructive emotions overpower you so that you can make a positive change to better yourself.

Discipline

Practicing yoga regularly builds tapas or discipline. The tapas you develop in yoga can help build other positive habits in your life.

Happiness

It has been found that consistent yoga practice improves depression and leads to a significant increase in serotonin levels while decreasing levels of monoamine oxidase and cortisol. This means it helps balance the negative chemicals in your brain to bring about happiness and contentment.

Awaken Your Third Eye

Practicing yoga requires that you envision your body during poses. This leads to more clarity in your mind’s eye which improves all things related to your third eye!

My favorite yoga apps

Yoga for Beginners | Mind+Body

This is by far my favorite app as it is perfect for beginners and quick sessions. It offers different sequences that focus on different areas of the body and types of relaxation. Hands down- best app for beginners!

Yoga for Beginners | Down Dog

This app is awesome as it focuses on following your breath during the session. This is a great app for beginners who would like to track and build their progress. Essentially, the more you practice the more levels and sessions you unlock.

Lotus | Yoga and Meditation

This app offers over 500 different sessions for different levels and time limitations. This is a great app for those who want to practice a new sequence regularly and expand their practice.

Final thoughts

Yoga is a wonderful way to achieve balance with your mind and body!

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