Amanda Benko | UAB Intern School of Education – CHHS

Health Benefits of Yoga

Yoga is an ancient practice and popular form of exercise involving physical poses, concentration, and deep breathing. It is a posture-based physical fitness, stress relief, and relaxation technique. Regardless of your yoga expertise and with regular practice, yoga can make you feel better from head to toe. If you’re living with a chronic condition, recovering from surgery, or going through an illness, practicing yoga can be a critical part of your treatment journey and speed up your healing process. Yoga enables you to build strength, awareness, and harmony in both the mind and body (Diamond, 2012). Maintaining a regular yoga practice can provide mental and physical health benefits for all.

There are various physical health benefits you will get when practicing yoga. The relaxation approach used in yoga can reduce chronic pain, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and headaches. It can also lower blood pressure and insomnia symptoms. There are also several other physical benefits associated with yoga, including improved body flexibility, increased muscle strength and tone, and maintaining a balanced metabolism (CDC, 2017). It can also improve respiration, vitality, and energy in your body. Yoga can also help reduce body weight and improve cardio and circulatory health. The National Institutes of Health (2020) adds that yoga improves athletic performance and protects you from injury. Besides, yoga helps one develop inner awareness. It can enable you to focus your attention on the body’s abilities at the present moment and boost your fitness.

Besides the physical benefits, yoga is instrumental in building strong mental health. It can help you manage stress. We all know that stress can have devastating impacts on our body and mind. Yoga can be effective in developing coping skills and approaching life more positively. Incorporating breathing and meditation in yoga can help improve one’s overall mental well-being (Pascoe et al., 2021). Practicing yoga regularly enhances mental clarity and calmness; relieves chronic stress patterns; helps relax the mind; enhances mind awareness; sharpens your concentration; and focuses your attention.

At 19, I was involved in a car wreck that herniated two disks in my cervical spine (neck). The following year I was in a four-wheeler wreck that crushed a vertebrae in my lower back. For years I was in chronic pain; the slightest thing hurt my back or neck. Then at 23, a friend introduced me to yoga, but I didn’t start doing it regularly until I was 26. After two weeks of regular practice, I realized I was no longer hurting. Yoga gave me some much-needed relief. So start slow and stay with it; you will be glad you did.

Yoga is fun. Yoga is mentally and physically healthy for you! Do you know of a good Yoga Studio in your area? If so, please share!

References

CDC (September 14, 2017) Yoga Activity Card. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/bam/cards/yoga.html#:~:text=Most%20yoga%20practices%20focus%20on,to%20concentrate%2C%20and%20decreased%20stress.

Diamond, L. (2012). The benefits of yoga in improving health. Primary Health Care, 22(2).

NIH (February 2020) Yoga for Health: What the Science Says. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/providers/digest/yoga-for-health-science

Pascoe, M. C., J de Manincor, M., Hallgren, M., Baldwin, P. A., Tseberja, J., & Parker, A. G. (2021). Psychobiological mechanisms underlying the mental health benefits of yoga-based interventions: A narrative review. Mindfulness, 1-13.