The benefits of a regular yoga practice
by Heather Garcia
Sit in a comfortable position on the floor. Close your eyes and pay attention to your body. Let go of daily stress and worldly concerns. Breathe. Prepare yourself mentally and physically for the journey ahead....
This journey is yoga. Yoga is thought to originate in India several thousand years before the common era, as a spiritual practice. The goal was to unite oneself with the Divine through meditation in various asanas, physical poses. Today, yoga has a wide variety of uses ranging from the original goal of spiritual enlightenment to a full-body workout. Some styles still emphasize meditation and incorporate chants into the practice. Others, like Hatha yoga, focus more on strengthening, stretching, and toning the body through asanas.
No matter what style is being practiced, the main focus in yoga is the breath. The breath is our life force. With every exhalation we rid our bodies of used air, making way to inhale new oxygen into ourselves, nourishing our muscles, organs, and brain. Pairing our breathing with our movements, we inhale, lengthening, creating long, lean muscles and exhale, settling into the pose, building strength. Creating heat as we move and breathe through our practice, we begin to sweat, expelling toxins from the body through the skin.
The benefits of yoga are numerous. Physical gains become obvious after even a short time of practice. Increased endurance, strength, and flexibility all become evident. We surprise ourselves by being able to get into poses we never conceived possible before. Other gains include stress reduction and elevated mood. Those of us with breathing disorders such as allergies and asthma, can appreciate easier breathing as the sinuses open and we increase our lung capacity.
No matter what your reasons for practicing yoga, be them spiritual, physical, or somewhere in between, yoga can be a life-long practice, offering countless benefits. We always want to remind ourselves that yoga is not a competition and that we always need to listen to our own bodies, respecting our limitations for that day.
Feeling healthy and happy, relax and restored, and proud of ourselves for spending this time on ourselves.
Namaste.
Heather teaches a mix of Hatha and Vinyasa yoga styles at The Village Witch, on Monday evenings. For more information, click here.