Did You Know That Yoga Does This Weird Thing to Your Body?

Did you know that Yoga could do this to your body?

Have you ever heard of someone practicing yoga and experiencing better sleep, getting sick way less often, or just flat out feeling better and more relaxed? You're not the only one! But, if you try telling a newbie how it works you might see that saying things like, "it increases the flow of prana" or "it lifts energy up your spine" ignites a look in their eyes like you're in a weird cult...

The medical world is working to try and shed some light on these claims to try and figure out why exactly Yoga does so many great things for your body. I think that, once you understand a little more about how it works, you'll find yourself on a yoga mat in no time!

Flexibility

Increasing your flexibility is one of the first things that you'll notice after you start practicing Yoga. At first you may not be able to put your palms to the floor, but after a bit of practice you'll get there! Those seemingly impossible poses become more obtainable and eventually you'll be able to do a headstand without a problem.

As your flexibility increases, you'll notice that aches and pains start to disappear. Tight muscles that inhibit the positioning of proper posture can pull you into positions that your body doesn't like, giving you the aches and pains. After loosening them and strengthening the posture, things lay where they're supposed to and it feels better.

Strength

Strong muscles do more than look good, they also protect us from conditions like back pain and arthritis! Strength that you build through Yoga is balanced with flexibility and balance instead of doing it at the expense of flexibility with just weights.

Back & Neck Strain

When you balance your head atop of your spine correctly, it's a lot easier for your body to hold up! As you slump over, your body may compensate and flatten the inward curves in your neck and lower back, which can cause pain and degenerative arthritis in the spine.

Joints

When you're doing Yoga, you take your joints through a full range of motion; thus preventing damage from degenerative arthritis as well as lubing up areas of cartilage that might not usually get any attention. This squeezing of the nutrients and soaking of new nutrients helps areas of cartilage that may eventually wear out!

The Spine

You have disks in your spine that are like mini shock absorbers between the vertebrae and they crave movement! Without it they have no way of getting their nutrients! Keep your disks in good shape with a lot of bending movements.

Bone Density

Your bones need a workout too! Any weight bearing exercise will do, but most people don't think too much of Yoga when it comes to this. Well your body is the weight when it comes to Yoga and it's just what your body likes to lift (or at least it will learn to like it).

These are just a fine few of the hundreds of benefits you get from practicing Yoga.

Find a great Yoga Studio near you today and get started! It's not as intimidating as you think!