Health Benefits Of Yoga Beyond Flexibility

Yoga and health benefits of a regular practice transcend the usual ideas that limit yoga to something that is only about flexibility. Yoga will not only improve and help alleviate a wide range of physical problems, like tightness of the muscles and limited range of motion, but it also provides a great accompaniment or total substitution for regular exercise, especially for people who are too busy to go to a gym. Yoga helps in getting your muscles toned, increases flexibility and range of motion, enables better lung capacity through proper breathing and will improve your balance, both physically and mentally.

Although yoga in the West is more associated with flexibility, it also assists in developing strength, something that is vital for women. Women may be more flexible than men due to men's larger and denser muscles, but women need to follow some form of strengthening on a regular basis to keep muscle tone and to ward off Osteoporosis. Yoga, albeit an unconventional form of exercise, has become known for countless benefits including the benefit of massaging and compressing the internal organs and allowing better blood flow. The health benefits of yoga also prove extremely beneficial during pregnancy. Yoga helps with labor and childbirth and aids in getting new moms back into shape quickly.

The regular practice of yoga nurtures a discipline in its followers that gets developed by regularly getting up in the morning for practice and routinely showing up for yoga class. Through practice, yoga practitioners become disciplined at a subtle, inner level. This discipline comes from focused breathing, controlling and holding the physical postures, and through an ongoing meditation practice. Getting fitness-savvy through yoga at a sub-conscious level, is a unique experience unlike any other, one that you won't get at a gymnasium or fitness club.

When you begin to feel the need for yoga, you are most likely developing a higher consciousness level and the connection of the mind and body becomes apparent. Quite often we feel disconnected within our own body. When we go through our yoga poses we may experience resistance points, but maintaining certain beneficial yoga postures and breathing into that stiffness will enable you to develop mental fortitude as well as physical resilience.

The health benefits of yoga are not limited to our body and the ability to maintain the physical postures. We build up a quiet confidence in our capabilities that does not get held back by the limitations we sometimes develop subconsciously. Regular practice of yoga helps us connect with what is referred to in yoga as our Dharma, or our purpose in life. As we grow in physical strength we also develop an inner strength that brings us the courage needed to follow our purpose in life.

Yoga and health benefits are not just about achieving a relaxed state of mind or about shedding extra weight. Yoga helps us discover the Divine Being within ourselves.