Breathe, and go: Why Yoga helps your life

From CrossFit to Insanity workouts, lately exercise has trended toward the extreme. But physical activity doesn’t always have to be vigorous to be effective. While it may seem mellow compared to most training programs, yoga’s health benefits keep pace and often outdistance what many people would call “traditional” forms of exercise.

 

People are always curious as to ask, “What else can I do to work out other than yoga”. The answer? Nothing! Yoga is everything my body needs to function at it’s absolute best. Here’s why:

 

It’s efficient!

Why would you waste so much time at the gym working each part of my body separately when you can do them all at once with yoga. No amount of lifting weights is going to make my arms as strong as holding up my own body weight in yoga. Also, practically everything you do in yoga is engaging your core, from core-centric poses to moving from pose to pose, using your core to stabilize your body. Yoga allows you to raise your heartbeat, strengthen your muscles, and lengthen them out all at once.

 

No injuries.

In yoga, you learn to unite your body and mind. This allows you to move with ease and pay attention to how your body is feeling at all times, so you move in a way that feels good for you and not one that puts you in places your body doesn’t want to be.

 

Yoga will help you lose weight

Practicing yoga changes your mind; it changes the way you approach life, your body, and eating. Yoga shows you how to appreciate your body for all of the amazing things that it can do for you and points you in the direction of wanting to fill your body with the best possible fuel rather than processed junk food. Changing your mind about your body and the foods you feed it with will be a much more effective weight-loss tool than burning a bunch of calories in an aggressive boxing class.

 

It saves money

Yoga doesn’t cost a penny. All you need to practice is you. You can wear any clothes that allow you to move, and you don’t even need a yoga mat, grass and carpet work are just fine. If you want some inspiration, there are plenty of great, inexpensive yoga DVDs or free online videos on YouTube.

 

You can do it anywhere

With no equipment necessary, it doesn’t matter if you are at home, at your office, on the road or even in the streets. As long as you have the desire, you can strike a few poses anywhere.