Yoga has a reputation of only being for certain types of people, but it is for everyone, regardless of their fitness level. There is something for everyone, whether you want it relaxing or challenging and we are sharing our favourite benefits of yoga.
The Benefits Of Yoga
Here are our favourite benefits from this fantastic workout.
Fitness
Yoga is far more than just stretching and laying down, and I wish that more people realised that. Sure, you can get some really gentle routines if that is what you are looking for, but you can also make it a very challenging workout that makes for great cardio!
Weight Loss
If you're looking to lose weight, you may not think about doing yoga. Yoga is actually one of the workouts that Dannii started with when she was losing 100lbs and it definitely worked. When someone is used to doing nothing, any kind of movement is good! You can really build up a sweat with yoga, especially when you are 100lbs overweight. Another bonus, is all the stretching and toning helps you have less loose skin after weight loss. Dannii started the day with 10 sun salutations in the beginning of her weight loss and we still do them every day now.
Posture
Dannii had the worst posture for years, due to slouching and not really doing enough exercise. Yoga really helped her to improve her posture and to sit up straight at a desk too, which just continues to improve her posture. Yoga helps to lengthen the spine and strengthen your core, which helps your posture. After all, it is your spine that keeps you up all day.
Mental Health
This is always our favourite benefit of any kind of workout, but more so with yoga because it is such a huge benefit of it. Doing yoga for a few minutes every day can massively reduce your stress levels. Yoga helps you to focus just on your breathing, and empty your brain of all other thoughts. Meditation is a big part of yoga and has really helped us to improve our mental health by just focusing on the here and now. We find that if we do our yoga routines outside in the fresh air, that it is even more of a boost to our mental health.
Better Sleep
This is most likely due to the reduction in stress, but our sleep really improved (pre-baby) when we started adding a yoga practise in to our morning and evening routines. Dannii suffers from restless leg syndrome, and a little bit of activity (but not too much), before bed helps her to sleep better. Now, with little one here, sleep has become a bit of a luxury, but the yoga that we do, does help to give us a better quality of sleep when we manage to get it!
You know that feeling of laying in bed worrying about everything and not being able to sleep because of it? Yoga can help with that. It can help you to block those thoughts out, or deal with them better, and get a better nights sleep.
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Afton Jackson
Wow, I never knew that yoga also had mental health improvements as one of the benefits. We've been looking for things that our aunts and mothers could do to keep themselves calm after experiencing work stress, but I wanted something a little more relaxing for them. If yoga can help them keep up both physical and mental health at the same time, I'll definitely help them look for any classes that can teach them this.
Camilla
The benefits of yoga truly seem endless! It's wonderful.
Sam
Hi, Great article.
From experience, I can say that yoga also builds muscle strength. Strong muscles do more than look good. They also protect us from many diseases. Yoga also increases your blood flow.
Juliette
I recently started yoga and can see many of the benefits listed in your article. I like to combine yoga with a good one-hour run during the week to really practice cardio. I am currently working for an events company in London that actually lists many sport and wellness related events. I very often go to such events and really see the benefits on my own life, I am way more efficient!
danasia fantastic
I recently started doing yoga by watching YouTube videos and I absolutely adore it!
jresquival
That's interesting that yoga benefits your posture. I guess that's because it strengthens your core, which is responsible for your posture. I sit at a desk all day, so I might have to try yoga to make sure I maintain posture.