The Seven Life Enhancing Benefits Of Yoga
The past few years have seen the rise of yoga as an alternative to the more typical forms of physical exercise
. Its attraction lies not only in the fitness benefits it offers but the deep sense of one's inner self that it develops among the people who practice it.
Yoga is basically a way by which one is able to get in touch of one's real self in order to live a better life. This is done through deep meditation combined with physical stances and postures that require one to focus and concentrate deeply. In the process of doing all these, one's attention is turned inward allowing one to find solutions within oneself and not on external things. The belief that the answer to every question lies within oneself is the underlying principle of yoga.
In the United States, yoga classes are quite popular as a form of physical exercise and meditation because of the many health benefits it provides. Discussed below are the seven life-enhancing benefits of a good, solid physical yoga practice.
1. Yoga increases flexibility. Many people associate yoga with increased flexibility and rightly so. The stretching involved in many yoga stances improves the elasticity of the connective tissues used in doing the said postures. In much the same way that a strong wind would easily break a rigid tree and a flexible one would simply bend according to the direction of the wind, a flexible person would be less prone to injury.
2. Yoga arrests the aging process. When you stretch regularly you keep your tissues from becoming dense and covered with fibroids. This allows blood, vitamins and minerals to flow smoothly through them resulting in good health. Because rigidity comes with age, it is important to continuously work on one's flexibility as one gets older in order to maintain good blood circulation.
3. Yoga keeps the internal organs in good condition. There are certain yoga positions that tone the internal organs making them function better. Aside from keeping the organs healthy, yoga also significantly reduces the possibility of developing disorders which may require expensive transplants. On a more practical level, the practice of yoga protects one from the threat of major health-related expenses.
4. Yoga boosts healthy energy flow. In yoga there is what is called "nadis" or energy pathways that run through the body. As the body ages, the "nadis" constrict thereby limiting the amount of vital energy circulating within. The result is aging, loss of energy and eventually, death. Yoga keeps the energy pathways open allowing plenty of vital energy or life force to flow through and you to stay healthy and young.
5. Yoga focuses the mind. Yoga is known to improve one's ability to concentrate. To execute the physical postures of yoga, you must focus only on what you are trying to do at the present moment. You should not be easily distracted by other inner thoughts or external factors.
6. Yoga gives you power. Those who practice yoga are aware that thinking is a choice and not an obligation. Yoga will open your eyes to the awesome power of your mind and how you can use it for your own benefit as well as to help others.
This awareness gives you the choice of whether you would want to harness your power of thinking or not. You can use this power to problems which you may be struggling with such as compulsive eating, rage, various addictions and behaviors which all really begins in the mind. How you live your life basically depends on your ability to choose which thoughts you want to empower.
7. Yoga gives you love. The essence of yoga is union and integration of the many different aspects of your life. This extends to how you relate to nature and other people. You will start to treat others with more compassion and understanding as you realize that all of us wear masks and go through life in the same way. We all want union with each other and with a higher power.
Yoga will enable you to know your inner self which is the true you and accept yourself for being what you are. More importantly, it will help you go beyond self-acceptance towards loving yourself. If you love yourself, loving the world and everyone and everything in it will soon follow.
by: Charles Volcolatte
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