Psychological Benefits of Yoga
On the physical level, yoga has been proven to have great benefits. Practitioners of yoga have reported better flexibility, toned muscles, stable heart rate, increased stamina, and so on. In yoga classes and sessions, yoga students are instructed to stretch, flex, and relax their muscles to achieve flexibility and agility. To the casual observer, yoga seems to have only physical benefits. Only faithful practitioners of yoga know that it offers benefits to the spirit and mind too, not just the body.
Basic Principle of Yoga
In the case of yoga, the physical benefits are associated with the psychological benefits. In fact, a sound mind and a sound body go together; this is a basic principle of yoga. Physical actions such as stabilizing the nervous system, steadying the heart rate, increasing joint flexibility, and so on, not only transform us physically, but also psychologically. When a person’s physical health improves, thanks to healthy diet and physical activity, his or her mental health also improves.
According to studies conducted on yoga, practitioners of yoga have reported an increased level of optimism, alertness of mind, awareness, and a deep appreciation of life. Yoga clearly shows how the body and the mind are related.
Stress Management
Yoga teaches you to effectively manage stress. All of us suffer from stress at home and at work. Modern life is so fast that we keep worrying about something or another. Yoga teaches you to slow down and relax. In fact, slow, deep, and relaxed breathing is part and parcel of yoga.
Slow and deep breathing encourages better relaxation. When you relax, you naturally discard stressful thinking and start dwelling on peaceful and pleasant thoughts. Often a person under stress has tense muscles as well. Yoga’s flexing activities help people in stress to let go and relax tense muscles.
Anxiety
Yoga can help you deal with anxiety too. Often anxious people are full of concerns and fears. Yoga helps students to concentrate, and this moves the mind away from anxiety. Yoga actually encourages you to focus on peaceful thoughts and images.
For example, Anuloma Viloma, a yoga breathing technique, incorporates single-nostril breathing in order to calm down the nerves and the mind. Studies have been conducted on this particular breathing exercise, and it has been proved that since this exercise includes breathing through each nostril in turns, it helps the practitioner connect to both sides of the brain, thus permitting the free flow of neurons. This particular exercise is believed to balance our left brain with the right brain, thereby enhancing our power to think clearly.
To put sum it up, yoga has many benefits to offer both physically and psychologically. In 2000, certain studies were conducted in Finland. These studies revealed that recreation and exercise were somehow linked to mood. Those who exercised twice a week enjoyed positive changes in mood. They were hardly depressed or angry. The ones who exercised more often were sociable and at ease. Stress was alien to their nature. Yoga, being a variant of exercise, has the same effects on it’s practitioners.
