Health Benefits of Yoga

Yoga is an ancient way, practiced for thousands of years, steeped in tradition and, to most people, a mysterious enigma. When practitioners would speak of the many benefits they had experienced in both mental and physical health, yoga would seem to be both a perfect practice, or one whose claims were impossible to believe.

practitioners of yoga, or yogis/yogins (yogini for the ladies) would speak of the unification of mind, spirit, and body. The belief was that when these were brought into balance the persons mental and physical health would improve. The word "harmony" would be heard a lot, as would be "healing", again, applied both to the body and the mind.

Until recently, you could only go by what someone who had personal experience could tell you. There was a reasonable amount of skepticism that yoga could actually be as beneficial to your mental and physical health as its proponents claimed.

However, in the last few years, scientific study, observation, and measurement have proven that yoga can indeed have specific observable affects on your health. It has been shown that body, mind, and spirit do work together and when the effective level of each is raised, the person experiences a much better life in terms of health, happiness, and harmony within himself or herself and with the world in general.

An article published by Johns Hopkins states:

"Over 75 scientific trials have been published on yoga in major medical journals. These studies have shown that yoga is a safe and effective way to increase physical activity that also has important psychological benefits due to its meditative nature."

In our modern society, we are likely to look at yoga first as an "exercise program". As with any good exercise program, yoga can increase muscle strength and respiratory endurance, improve flexibility, and promote balance. It also tends to lessen pain in those afflicted with arthritis and helps to increase energy levels in those who practice it.

Yogis and yogins also have long reported increases in what might be called positive mental states, along with decreases in negative mental states. They tend to report a greater level of optimism, a renewed or improved enthusiasm for life, and a higher sense of alertness and awareness of themselves and the world and people around them. They have also reported decreased levels of aggressiveness, anxiety, and excitability, as well as lowered levels of physical complaints and illnesses.

Scientific observation and testing is now bearing out what practitioners have been saying for years. Studies on the biological, psychological, and biochemical aspects of yoga have shown a wide range of positive results for most who take up the practice of yoga.

When practiced over time, yoga tends to level pulse rate, stabilize the nervous system, normalize stomach and digestive activity, level hormones, and increase joint range of motion. It increases energy, endurance, immunity, and cardiovascular efficiency. It improves eye-hand coordination, reaction time, dexterity, and helps the person to get more restful and restorative sleep.

Yoga also seems to have psychological benefits as well. practitioners and those who study them report that it helps you become more aware of your body, accept yourself more readily, improve your concentration, memory, learning and mood.

Additional benefits of yoga as compared to other exercise programs is that it massages internal organs in a way that other programs do not, and produces a detoxifying effect. Some speculate that this may lead to delaying aging.

Finally, yoga can be practiced almost anywhere, anytime, by anyone, and requires no special equipment. It does not even require special training! While having an expert teach you personally would be best, a careful reading of books on the subject and a DVD or two can get you started. However, our modern citizens tend to throw themselves headfirst into new projects. Not only is this completely opposite from the philosophy and aims of yoga, but it can invite injury and strain. The people in the books and DVD's have been doing yoga for years. It is highly unlikely that you will immediately be able to duplicate their ability to achieve the positions they demonstrate. Just do the best you can, and then do it again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day...

As always, before beginning any physical fitness program, check with your doctor first to make sure it is okay for you to start. Once started, however, be aware that there are people in their 70s, 80s and 90s doing yoga. You will not be alone.

Yoga And Weight Loss

Many people in America today try all sorts of things in pursuit of healthy, permanent weight loss. Unfortunately, they mainly seem to try fad diets, diet pills, celebrity diets, the grapefruit diet...you name it. In fact, stick an adjective or noun in front of the word "diet", and you might be the creator of the next diet craze.

While a someone might temporarily lose a few pounds with a "diet", diets are not successful when it comes to permanent weight loss and healthy weight loss.

As they say, I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that there IS a known and proven way to achieve significant, healthy, permanent weight loss. More good news is that, although some modification to what you presently like to eat will be necessary, extremely drastic changes are seldom required. Oh, yes, you might have to learn to substitute something you don't like that much right now for something you do like, but, in time, you can get accustomed to this, and even learn to like the new flavors and foods. I know. I've been there.

The bad news is that, along with modifications to your eating habits, you are going to have to become more active. Dare I say it....?

You will have to exercise! The benefits of exercise is an article in itself, and I have written elsewhere about how exercise can take many forms, so there is no need to lock yourself into an unpleasant or painful exercise regimen. What I really want to do here is give a small pitch for the practice of yoga as my exercise program of choice. Remember, however, my exercise program of choice might not be yours. As much as I like yoga, you will have to decide if yoga is right for you.

Before I speak specifically about yoga, let's just list some of the known benefits of regular exercise in general. Exercise...

>Reduces the risk or affects of many illnesses and conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, arthritis, high blood pressure, and osteoporosis to name a few. Some studies even show possible reductions in the risk for some cancers.

- Elevates mood and reduces depression.

- Helps maintain healthy bones, muscles, joints, and nervous system.

- Delays affects of ageing, making seniors more mobile and self sufficient and less likely to fall prey to injury or illness.

- Reduces risk of premature death (sounds like a big one to me).

- Helps maintain a healthy weight.

Okay, since any good exercise program can provide these benefits, what does yoga have to offer that makes it special?

In addition to providing the basic benefits of exercise in general, yoga does have a few specific things going for it.

1. Despite the apparently agonizing contortions seen in every yoga book, the benefit is in the attempt to achieve the position. The models in the books arrived at their present level of ability over time, and many a skilled practitioner of yoga today began in the same shape you're in right now. It is okay to modify a position or to come out of it a little early if your body is not ready yet. The regular practice of your best version of the movement or position (asana), combined with yoga breathing techniques (easily learned) will produce progress over time.

2. No personal trainer or special equipment is needed, nor is it necessary to go to the gym or even out in public at all. You can do yoga naked if you don't have a pair of gym shorts, and a carpet is just as good as a yoga mat...at least at first. Yoga is actually so simple that it CAN be learned from a book, although it certainly wouldn't hurt to get guidance or training from a certified instructor.

3. Yoga is relaxing and relieves stress. Not only is this of great personal value in today's world, but if any part of your weight loss problem is stress related, and I can almost guarantee some relationship, the stress relief offered by yoga can ease that portion of your weight loss journey.

4. In addition to being good for your health for several reasons, simply learning yoga breathing and practicing it regularly can help you burn fat.

5. As you begin to progress in your ability to better perform yoga poses (asanas) you will notice a sense of control, of mastery of life and self, which will become more evident. This new inner strength will aid you in facing difficulties, including temptations concerning eating and your new eating behaviors. You will also find yourself more forgiving, not only of others, but of yourself as well, and when you slide a little, you will be better able to shrug it off and get back on your path to success.

6. With more progress in your yoga practice, you will begin to experience new feelings of health, strength, and well-being. These feelings will in turn motivate you to take even more control of your life so that you can continue your progress with no desire or temptation to return to the way things used to be.

Nothing is perfect for everyone, but, as you can see, the practice of yoga does have some benefits to offer which may make it valuable in the pursuit of healthy, permanent weight loss.