The Benefits of Yoga

You may find that there are many yoga studios all around Singapore. Now you’ve heard that yoga can help relieve stress and whatnot, but you’re hesitant to try it out. But really, there’s nothing to fear about yoga. It doesn’t just involve relaxation, it even has benefits for the heart. If you need more convincing, here are some benefits of yoga:

Flexibility
One famous and more obvious benefit of yoga is improved flexibility. This is simply because possibly all yoga positions involve stretching. It includes stretching not only muscles but also the joints. If you’re just starting out, don’t worry if you can’t do the stretches fully, that’s typically normal. As you continue doing them though, you’ll notice that your whole body has become more flexible.

Stress relief
Another well-known benefit of yoga is that it encourages relaxation and eases stress and anxiety. This is because yoga can significantly reduce the production of the stress hormone, cortisol. A lot of its stress-relief benefits also come from the mindful awareness of our bodies that come with it. The breathing exercises and overall meditative nature is what ultimately calms you down, both in the mind and the body.

Helps protect the heart
The exercises done in yoga improves the circulation of blood around the body which means that your blood flow also becomes better. Some yoga poses have been said to help flush out excess waste in the blood while allowing oxygenated blood to flow better. This basically means that your heart is able to pump out and supply blood to our muscle tissues and organs more effectively. Consequently, it helps maintain blood pressure, as high blood pressure is a known contributor to heart disease.

Can help with chronic pain
Feeling a bit of soreness around your neck, arms, or shoulders? Suffering from chronic back pain? Then, try a bit of yoga. Yoga exercises can help release the tension in your muscles and reduce any chronic pain. It has been found that those with carpal tunnel syndrome and osteoarthritis of the knees have experienced improved performance and reduced pain in the parts affected.

Promote better sleep
Yoga is also a way to get a deeper and better-quality sleep. This, again, has a lot to do with the relaxing and meditative nature of yoga. It has been said that yoga also enhances the release of melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleep. When you do yoga, you’ll find that you may be able to sleep faster, sleep longer, and feel more refreshed when you wake up.

Improves focus
As we all know, lack of focus can negatively affect productivity. Fortunately, improving concentration is another advantage of yoga. Yoga, just like meditation, enriches our mindful awareness. With that, the brain’s ability to acquire, process, and recall information becomes better. This also helps because it gets rid of the distracting thoughts that swim around our head.