Yoga – Connecting Mind, Body, and Soul
Incorporating yoga into your weekly workout routine will help you achieve a healthier mind, body, and soul. Not only does it have so many amazing mental and physical benefits, but it can also help you connect with yourself and with others.
“Yoga brings together the physical and mental disciplines to achieve a peaceful body and mind; it helps manage stress and anxiety and keeps you relaxed. It also helps in increasing flexibility, muscle strength and body tone. It improves respiration, energy, and vitality. Practing yoga might seem like just stretching, but it can do much more for your body from the way you feel, look, and move.”
Mental Benefits
Yoga can help reduce anxiety and stress by promoting a relaxed stated. According to a study done in the National Institutes of Health, yoga helps to decrease the production of the primary stress hormone, cortisol. In another study that was done, 34 women diagnosed with an anxiety disorder participated in yoga classes twice weekly for two months. The results were, those that practiced yoga had significantly lower levels of anxiety. The next time you are feeling anxious or stressed, take ten minutes to do some yoga and watch how your mood will change.
Yoga can promote heart health by reducing inflammation caused by certain diseases. According to another study published in the National Institutes of Health, 113 patients with heart disease incorporated one year of yoga training, combined with dietary modifications and stress management. The results were a 23% decrease in total cholesterol and the progression of heart disease stopped in 47% patients.
Yoga will help increase your overall quality of life. Yoga is a combination of stretching, controlled breathing, and meditation which can improve a person’s mental well-being. According to Dr. Nevins from the American Osteopathic Association, “Regular yoga practice creates mental clarity and calmness; relaxes the mind'; centers attention; and sharpens concentration.”
Physcial Benefits
Yoga helps build muscle strength and tone. According to certified yoga instructor Ceasar F. Barajas, yoga is an “excellent way to build muscle and both lengthen and tone the body. Holding certain yoga poses is still tearing muscle fibers, while using body weight as tension. The body’s response is to build more muscle.”
Doing yoga, overtime, will increase your flexibility and balance. By doing specific poses that test your flexibility and balance, you can expand your training performance. A study published in the National Library of Medicine, found that older adults who practiced yoga 15-30 minutes a day helped improve their balance and mobility.
Yoga can help to improve breathing. Many athletes who participate in endurance-heavy sports such as swimming, soccer, running, etc, practice yoga. It helps to develop correct breathing habits (lowers resting heart rate), expand lung capacity, and helps improve concentration. According to a study done in 287 college students who took a 15-week yoga/breathing course, all students had an increase in vital capacity.
Where to begin
Originally, yoga was extremely hard for me to do because I always found myself distracted. The thoughts continued racing in my mind and I was wondering when that “zen” that everyone talks about was going to happen. Still, I was being told that yoga will “help with your anxiety” and I needed that, but what I was failing to do was connect all 3 mind, body, and soul. Yeah my body was ‘doing’, but my mind was not there in the present. I then joined a short, 20 minute, live yoga session with a page I absolutely love (@suiheartclub on IG with the lovely Vira) which I did right before bed and the way my mind and body felt was at peace and ease.
I also found out about PiYo. PiYo is a combination of pilates (strength training exercise using your own bodyweight) and yoga. This was the game changer I needed in order to transition my mind and body to start incorporating yoga into my weekly workouts. It was an hour long class that was divided into 20 minutes pilates, 20 minutes yoga, 10 minutes abs, 10 minutes stretching. Mentally and physically, I was there in the present and I found all 3 to be connected as one.
After months of taking PiYo, I started taking full length regular yoga classes and not only was I physically stronger, but mentally as well. I had no problem getting through a full session. And if you’re wondering if it helped with my anxiety…the answer is yes! There would be days (I still occasionally have these days) where I would wake up and my chest would be tight and I would feel so anxious. On these days, I would start my workout with yoga and it completely refreshed my mindset and calmed my body down.
You can even do full classes in the comfort of your own home! Here are two of my favorite youtubers for both PiYo and Yoga!
Michelle Briehler: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-oO-Vr0fWpB-dCYCYJxHHA
Yoga with Adriene: https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene
Do some research and find out what works best for you, even if this means starting at 10 minutes and working your way up!
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