Why Yoga?
Physical Benefits
Flexibility: Moving your body in new ways will help it become flexible, with the potential to bring a greater range of motion to muscles and joints. With regular practice, you can expect to gain flexibility in your hamstrings, back, shoulders and hips.
Strength: Many yoga postures require you to support the weight of your own body, including balancing on one leg, or supporting yourself with your arms and legs which can increase strength and stamina.
Pain Prevention: Sitting for long periods of time causes spinal compression which can be a root cause for back pain. Increased flexibility and strength can help prevent the causes of some types of back pain as certain yoga postures can lengthen the spine and strengthen the back muscles.
Better Breathing: Most of us breathe shallowly into the lungs and do not give much thought to how we breathe. Yoga breathing exercises (called Pranayama) focus the attention on the breath and teach us how to better use our lungs and diaphragm which can benefit the entire body.
Mental Benefits
Mental Calmness and Clarity: Concentrating so intently on what your body is doing has the effect of bringing a calmness to the mind. Yoga also introduces you to meditation techniques, such as observing the breath and disengaging from thoughts which help calm the mind.
Stress Reduction: Physical activity is great for relieving stress and this is particularly true of yoga. The concentration required and giving time to yourself may help to put things into perspective. You should leave a yoga class feeling relaxed, refreshed and energised.
Body Awareness: Practicing yoga will give you an increased awareness of your own body. Your teacher will often instruct you to make small, subtle movements to improve your alignment, engaging muscles you never thought existed! Over time, this can increase your level of comfort in your own body which can lead to improved posture and greater self-confidence.
