Yoga has been used for centuries as a way to connect to the earth, relieve stress, stretch and strengthen, and meditate. There are many proven health benefits of yoga to those who regularly utilize it in their daily lives. There is no one right way to do yoga; there are many types and techniques used. The key is to utilize yoga in a way that helps you to become grounded and feel at peace. If you can achieve that, you are doing yoga. Here are several health benefits of yoga.
Chronic Pain Sufferers
Those who suffer from chronic pain and chronic conditions can greatly benefit from yoga. Studies show that pain causes stress. They also show that stress increases pain. This can be a vicious circle. From there depression, loss of interest, weight gain, and sleeping problems can occur.
Yoga is a way to break the cycle. It teaches you how to breathe through relaxation techniques. When you can relax, pain can be reduced.
Relaxation and the Other Benefits
Relaxing encourages other health benefits. When you can relax, your body is able to function better. When muscles tense up it can:
- Decreases blood circulation
- Increase blood pressure
- Decrease energy
- Balance your metabolism
In addition, through yoga, you can increase mental clarity. Those who suffer from “brain fog” can benefit from this. By relaxing your mind, you can increase your ability to concentrate and create a mental calmness. This can help to break the cycle of chronic pain.
Yoga Can Improve Digestion
Yoga is easier to do when your body feels clean. When you suffer from stomach and constipation issues, yoga can be more challenging. The good news is yoga improves digestion. Yoga can help relieve constipation, making it easier to meditate and feel at peace; when you feel stomach discomfort it’s hard to relax.
While there are many techniques to improve digestion with yoga, here are a few that can help cleanse the body of toxins.
Deep Breathing
Believe it or not, deep breathing can help digestion. When you can inhale deeply, your stomach can expand away from the diaphragm. Then, when you exhale, relaxing the stomach muscles, you are performing a mild massage for your digestive system.
Doing this reduces the tension and helps the body naturally move. Be sure not to tighten your stomach. The more relaxed it is, the faster you can get things moving.
The same is true with the digestion process. If you had a great meal, and overeat, you will feel uncomfortable and bloated. Yoga can help ease this discomfort by helping your stomach and digestive organs to process the meal faster.
The Twist Technique
Twisting, while yoga breathing, can help speed up digestion.
When you twist, the area below the rib cage is activated. This area includes the liver. The liver plays a major role in detoxing the body from the unnecessary things we consume.
Be sure to maintain your breathing while twisting. Twist to each side about a dozen times and see how that helps speed up your digestive system.
Agnisar Kriya
This yoga cleansing technique works to fire up digestion. The word-stem “agni” means fire. Sar means essence and Kriya means action.
Fire is the key yoga component to digestion; when you perform this technique, you are stimulating your digestive fire.
Agnisar Kriya entails deeply pulling in your stomach through exhaling and pushing it out when inhaling. Doing this several times activates your digestive fire.
There are so many health benefits to yoga. When you learn how to relax your body, you are able to help it work better. You can build strength, increase blood circulation, increase digestion, and increase your energy.
