By Richard John Anderson
The life of a modern person is quite a stressful one there are always so much we need to get done in a day plus all the other life pressures like finances, family, etc. So it would take pretty good reasons to convince a person to add something else to already busy schedule, so why would we even think about regular Yoga training sessions. Here I will try and examine the main benefits of Yoga and what it can add to our life.
Point One: Physical Health
One of the reasons why we keep this busy lifestyle is to create wealth for ourselves and our families. But have you ever heard a saying “health is your wealth”? Well trust me it is true. It does not matter how much money you have you will not be able to use them if you are dead and neglecting your health is one of the quick ways to get there. The question we have to ask ourselves is not whether we can afford the time for exercise but it is whether we can afford not to. Health is a sliding scale and it is important to remember how much health affects our everyday life and work. The healthier you are the better you can concentrate on your work you also have more energy to get more things done in a shorter time frame, which means the healthier you are the more productive you become.
Yoga is one of the easiest and best ways for us to look after our physical wellbeing. The reason for this is that yoga exercises are so incredibly simple that they can be performed by even the most out of shape person and the more regularly you exercise the healthier you become. Yoga is also an efficient way of releasing stress and tension. During our normal workdays certain blockages develop around the body and that’s results in a number of vital organs not getting enough oxygen and other nutrients they need to function efficiently. Yoga designed to stretch different muscle groups in a particular ways that will remove these blockages from the body and the blood flow will bring all the oxygen and other nutrients to all body organs.
The benefits from yoga are both immediate and also long term. In a short term you will get an improvement in a blood flow extra energy and generally your body will function better as blood can deliver oxygen and other nutrients to all body organs. Another immediate benefit is the release of tension from muscles and reduction of stress. The long term benefits will be ongoing benefits and your digestive system will also function more efficiently, which has innumerable health benefits. You general flexibility and coordination will also improve.
Point Two: Mental Health
Have you ever thought about the importance of breath? We all aware that when someone stops breathing they will die, just thinking about this simplistic understanding tells us how important it is to breath. But proper breathed are often ignored. It is quite important not only for multiple health benefits but also for strong mental advantages it provides us.
Yoga exercises will normally begin with the breathing exercises. This simple exercise of taking a deep breath and then slowly releasing it, it is incredibly calming and relaxing, and the breathing exercises are a vital backbone of Yoga. The key to this is that it concentrates all our attention to one simple action of breathing. We become quite aware of the life giving benefit of a controlled and deep breathing cycle and we are able to achieve a level of calmness that we often don’t find in our everyday lives. That calmness itself is a major stepping-stone to achieving focus.
For us the ability to focus is possibly the single most important skill in a work environment. There are always so many things happening around us so much that we need to do that is quite difficult to focus your mind on a single task we are in process of doing because of all other things which we have in the back of our minds. Yoga teaches you the technique of how to quickly clear your mind and then focus on a single current task. It is also a good provider of personal discipline. The self discipline that is learned from focusing on the body and becoming a master of oneself is one of the major benefits of Yoga.
Point Three: Happiness
Happiness is something which is quite often sacrificed in the short term in exchange for some mystical hope that everything will come together in a future and everything will be ok. Yoga will not move you closer to that point in future, but it will help you to develop a strong sense of self and a connection with yourself so you can become more content with your current situation. The more you practice yoga you will find yourself more comfortable spending quality time alone and with other people. Your sense of self worth will increase and you will perform better in social situations. This is probably the most important skill that yoga can teach you.
By Paul Hegarty