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Over the past several years, yoga has gained popularity, even among medical professionals, and in the western world. Yoga is known as an excellent practice that connects the mind, spirit, and body through the process of meditation, physical exercises (poses or asanas) and controlled breathing.
The birth of yogic science is from the Vedic period, and its various practices have effectively impacted multiple human generations in better health and wellness. We’ve all heard that incorporating yoga in our daily lives helps to adopt a positive lifestyle and changes the way we live.
Today, with our lives becoming extremely hectic, stressful and competitive, Yoga is a much-needed resource for our wellness. Let us deep dive into the different aspects of yoga and how it can help us in our overall fitness and wellbeing.
The 4 Primary Aspects of Yoga
According to the yogic school of wellness, health is a state of complete balance between the mind and body with the soul. To help achieve this, yoga includes the following four primary aspects:
Pranayama for Breathing
Life runs on breath and hence the philosophy of yoga recognizes breathing as a source of enormous power. With consistent, controlled and deep inhalation and exhalation, the body gets pure oxygen, and is thus defined as a practice of the removal of the impurities present in the blood by making it warm. Furthermore, pranayam enhances the decision-making power of the brain with ample amounts of fresh air to work at its full potential.
Meditation for a Mindful Practice
Meditation helps to refresh the mind, after hours of working. It heals the mind by reducing stress and promoting inner peace. Meditation takes the mind into a state of seclusion where one finds peace, which gradually helps us to remain composed even during the moments of stress in our lifestyle. Morning meditation is the most ideal way of practicing it, as trainers preach that starting the day with a calm mind keeps the brain composed for the whole day.
Mantra Chanting
Positivity affects your life and the way you live your life. A pessimist can never achieve the state of complete wellness as they attract stress, negativity, and depression by looking at the negative side of the coin. Mantras are a great source of positive attitude in life and ‘AUM’ is known to be one of the strongest mantras as it is the origin of all spiritual knowledge. Reciting ‘Aum’ while meditating passes the sound vibration throughout the body which helps in relaxing and feeling positive.
Yoga Asanas or the Physical Exercises
Yoga is a healthy way of life, and many people around the world now-a-days are opting for yoga as their way to fitness. The primary motto of the asanas is to make the body strong enough to fight disease-causing agents, and develop our mind to better connect with our body. Various asanas work effectively in curing numerous diseases/illnesses and when practiced regularly, Yoga poses can be of a great use in helping the body gain energy.
Benefits of Yoga
We’ve all heard that yoga keeps our body healthy, but it also enhances the wellness of our mind, by overcoming stress, and tension. Most people believe that meditation and yoga is meant for the older generation, however, the fact is that age is not a concern at all. Yoga can be performed by all age groups, whether you are 8 or 80, you can do yoga, considering your body limitations. Listed below are some of the primary benefits of yoga:
Minimizes Stress
It reduces the effects of stress hormones by encouraging relaxation and lowering blood pressure, improving heart rate, boosting the immune system, and easing the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and fatigue.
Helps in Pain Relief
Yoga helps the body become flexible, encouraging flexibility of bones & joints. People who suffer from arthritis, back pain, etc. must practice yoga.
Improves Heart Health
Regular breathing practices in yoga improves lung and heart health by improving oxygen supply in the body.
Improves Posture
Poor posture is one of the main reasons for aches such as on the back, neck, joints, muscles, etc. Yoga poses gradually help to maintain better posture by improving muscle and bone health.
Protects Your Spine
Yoga includes plenty of postures like forward bending, backward bending, twists, and turns to make your spine healthy and flexible.
Lowers Blood Pressure
One of the yoga asanas named Shavasana (Corpse Pose) helps in a good drop in systolic blood pressure by relaxing the muscles and releasing tension, thus maintaining BP level in your body.
Helps You Sleep Better
Our hectic schedules and busy lifestyles lead to us compromising our sleep, which results in headaches, anxiety, stress, etc. Meditation and asanas reduce the tiredness, and stress from the body, in turn promoting better sleep.
Prevents Digestive Problems
Yoga works well in providing relief from digestive issues such as ulcers, syndrome, constipation, and irritable bowel by activating the efficiency of body cells, to fight against various problems.
Mind-Body Connection
Meditation and certain asanas, help in controlling breathing while retraining calmness and peace for your mind. It slows down the loop of frustration, anger, fear, regret, stress, etc. and thus improves overall wellness.
A Balanced Day and Night through Yogic Routine
After gaining the theoretical knowledge of yoga, let us understand how to implement those practices in our daily lifestyle. Here are some of the basic guidelines prescribed to follow for a healthy living.
Healthy living begins with the idea of waking up early in the morning followed by meditation and breathing exercises so that the rest of the day goes well. Yoga states that three wholesome meals every day with an interval of approximately 5-6 hours promotes good health. As per your schedule, you can accommodate yoga asanas after your meditation or in the evening before sunset.
Make sure to eat 3-4 hours before you sleep, instead of sleeping soon after dinner.
“Peace of mind is happiness and health is wealth! Yoga shows a way to achieve both.”
– Swami Vivekanand.
Take-Away
Yoga is known to be one of the best practices to improve quality of life by providing numerous mental and physical benefits. It also promotes healthy eating habits which automatically reduces the chances of getting affected by diseases, and helps in maintaining your blood sugar level or blood pressure level (one of the main causes of a heart attack).
Life is always going to be busy, but it is important to find time for ourselves, our body and our mind to lead a healthy and fit lifestyle and improve our overall wellness. Take a few minutes off every day for ourselves and indulge in a wholesome yoga practice.
