Unlike slimming beds or synchronizedswimming, yoga is one way of getting fit that is here to stay.
No-longer contained to hippy camps and earth-mothers, yoga is big business and with variations popping up all over the UK we thought it was a good time to really drum home just how brilliant yoga really is.
We all know that doing yoga can help with breathing, relieve stress, and hopefully give us a body like Gwyneth Paltrow but there’s more to yoga than these top line benefits. We spoke to Daisy Ellison, co-founder of Chaya Yoga Retreats to find out the yoga benefits that you might not know about.
So want to fall more in love with yoga? Take this little lot in.
1. Restored Health
Yes yoga is a great way to introduce your body back into exercise gently after an injury but did you know that by practicing yoga you can actually speed up your recovery too?
Daisy says: “Illness and injury can all too often act as a barrier to exercise. One of yoga’s crowning glories is not only its ability to overcome such barriers, but it can actually help heal and in many cases cure health issues.
2. Boosts your metabolism
Figuring out that doing yoga regularly will help you lose weight isn’t hard. But what isn’t quite so obvious is the fact that yoga actively helps to boost your metabolism.
Daisy says: “Whilst most forms of exercise use only a small part of our body (sometimes less than 15%), yoga provides a workout that covers every muscle, joint and organ; providing a hearty boost to your metabolism that can burn up to 600calories in one hour of practise.“
Seeing as you burn around 600 calories on average from an hour jog this is pretty impressive – and a whole lot more appealing.
3. A Body Beautiful
The great thing about yoga is that not only is it physically obvious on the outside that it’s good for you – you lose weight, tone up in places you never knew needed toning, and strengthen your entire body – but Daisy says that it makes a massive difference to how your body works on the inside too.
“Nothing creates a shiny exterior like an inner glow. From attaining your ideal weight to optimising the function of your body’s internal systems, the physical benefits of yoga are huge,” she says.
4. Increased Awareness
None of us can say that there’s a moment in the day where we’re not thinking about something else. Our modern lives dictate that we all have to be expert multi-taskers and that can sometimes mean that our minds run wild thinking about what’s coming next rather than focusing on the here and now.
Daisy says that one amazing thing that yoga can do is help you get a grip on your internal monologue which does a whole load of good for general day to day existence.
5. A Calmer Self
The breathing techniques that yoga teaches you aren’t just about relaxation and finding your inner zen. Daisy says that these breathing techniques can help with serious conditions like anxiety and depression too.
“A key part to any yoga practice is to focus on your breathing, and it’s this simple sounding technique that helps achieve profound results, from reduced anxiety and improved sleep to overcoming complaints such as insomnia and depression.
Source: sofeminine
