Yoga is one of the most unique and effective systems of healing the body. Even though you won’t find it in the best betting site online, it’s still as good for your health as football or volleyball. It combines a complex of physical exercises, breathing techniques and concentration. Regular practice changes lives for the better and leads to amazing health results. Here’s what benefits yoga has for women and men, whether it’s okay for children and pregnant women, and who the practice may be contraindicated.
What Are the Benefits of Yoga?
Yoga isn’t just a set of exercises whose performance improves health. This is a special way of life that allows you to achieve harmony in the physical and psychological state, to find new potential and hidden capabilities of the body. The essence of yoga is not just physical training, it is aimed at working with the human mind and includes methods of spiritual development and self-improvement.
The aim of ancient Indian practice is to achieve harmony with oneself and experience the joy of total health: physical and spiritual.
Scientific research confirms the therapeutic effect of yoga. It was proven that systematic practice normalizes physiological processes in the body and has beneficial effects on all organs and systems. Here are the primary benefits:
- Improve posture and the condition of the spinal column. By eliminating deformities of the spine and pinched nerve endings pain in the back and neck disappear. Correcting the posture increases the volume of the lungs, improves blood circulation of internal organs.
- Normalize the hormonal background. The performance of asanas improves the functioning of the pancreas and thyroid gland, eliminates disorders in the sexual sphere, improves the sexual health of men and women.
- Reduce weight and improve the shape. Exercises strengthen the muscular corset of the whole body, speed up metabolism, and improve the function of the gastrointestinal tract. The complex effect of asanas on the body leads to weight loss.
- Develop flexibility and plasticity. Increases the elasticity of ligaments and tendons, and increases tension from the muscles.
- Normalize the cardiovascular system. Deep breathing provides an additional flow of oxygen to internal organs, stabilizes heart rate, increases blood circulation.
- Increase immunity. Muscle contraction and stretching stimulates the movement of lymph in the body, which makes it easier to cope with infections, and prevents the formation of cancer cells.
The health benefits of yoga for the body don’t stop there. Unlike fitness workouts designed to perfect the body and improve health, the practice helps to find mental balance.
Benefits for the Back
Yoga is the most effective and affordable method of restoring the spine. Exercises are useful for anyone who suffers from diseases in the area of the back.
The benefits of the practice are enormous:
- Posture improves.
- Strengthens the muscle corset that supports the spine;
- the blood supply and metabolic processes in the spinal column get better.
- Clamps of nerve endings of the back are eliminated.
- Flexibility and mobility of the spine is developed.
To achieve a therapeutic effect in diseases of the back, you need to practice under the guidance of an experienced instructor and strictly monitor the implementation of all principles of practice.
Benefits for Body Shape and Weight Loss
Most asanas in yoga are static exercises, which involve extreme tension of all muscles, including those located in the deep layers. Their stimulation leads to active fat burning. In addition, exercising reduces the level of cortisol, the stress hormone, which provokes the deposition of excess fat around the abdomen.
Practicing dynamic and power yoga in combination with breathing techniques improves the metabolism and speeds up the process of losing weight, helping to consolidate the effect for a long time.
When you are overweight, it’s useful to perform twists, bends, stretches, sags, and inverted poses. Such asanas strengthen the abs and back muscles, actively burning fat deposits.
The Most Useful Asanas
There are many different postures and their variations (according to some sources 1300). But it is not necessary to master all of them to feel the health benefits. It is enough for beginners to learn how to perform about 10-15 basic asanas correctly.
The most popular and useful are:
- Tadasana (mountain pose) improves posture, prevents age-related degeneration of the spinal column, leg joints.
- Adho Mukha Svanasana (down facing dog) improves cerebral circulation, stretches the spine, leg muscles, and is good for shoulder joints.
- Bhujangasana (cobra pose) helps improve posture, maintain youthfulness, stimulates digestion, and promotes the cycle.
- Virabhadrasana (warrior pose II) strengthens the muscles of the back, legs, abdomen, and promotes weight loss in the waist and thighs.
- Shalabhasana (grasshopper pose) improves digestion, strengthens and stretches the spine, stimulates the prostate gland.
- Balasana (baby pose) stretches the muscles along the spinal column, relieves tension from the intervertebral discs, and helps get rid of headaches, fatigue.
- Trikonasana (triangle pose) tones back nerves, stimulates the intestines, liver, spleen, nervous system, strengthens the muscles on the lateral surface of the trunk, and develops flexibility.
- Marjariasana (cat pose) improves the flexibility of the spine, increases blood circulation, stimulates the excretory system and restores reproductive functions.
- Sarvangasana (candle or birch pose) has a powerful positive effect on all organs and systems of the body.
- Halasana (plow pose) regulates the blood circulation of the spinal cord, improves digestion, tones the genitals, and relieves fatigue of the spine.
- Shavasana (corpse pose) relieves muscle tension, relieves mental cramps, stress, and is beneficial for heart disease and high blood pressure.
Salamba Sirshasana is considered to be the “king” of all asanas. It is beneficial for all organs and systems of the body, gets rid of chronic diseases, and rejuvenates the body. But this asana is not for beginners, it is not suitable for the elderly or overweight people. Before you start learning it, you should gain experience.
What Is the Right Way to Practice?
A man is created in such a way that he needs harmony with the outside world, correspondence to it. If you don’t, you start to feel uncomfortable, unwell and depressed. Asanas help to restore harmony, so it’s very important how you do them. It is important to achieve precise positioning of the body, beauty of movements, therefore it is better to train under the guidance of an experienced teacher and in front of a mirror for beginners.
One of the necessary components of success in yoga practice is satisfaction from doing asanas, the feeling of muscle joy. Without it, the result will be incomplete.
