Yoga Benefits
Physical
- Improves flexibility- key here being you do NOT need to be flexible to try yoga
- Builds strength in muscles- a lot of postures use your own body weight
- Betters your posture and protects your spine- remember a motherly figure yelling at you to “stand up straight” or “shoulders back and down”..
- Improves coordination, reaction time, and memory
Mental
- Numerous studies have shown consistent yoga practice improves depression and heightens activity in your left prefrontal cortex leading to greater levels of happiness and better immune function
- Increases your self worth and self esteem and in turn, encourages your own self care and well being
- Ignites rest and relaxation versus fight or flight
Spiritual
- Patanjali, who wrote the Yoga Sutra, gave us the basic teaching of yoga in 8 limbs in an attempt to reveal layers of ourselves to reach our greatest self
- Slows down the inner chatter about anger, regret, fear
- Creates space to transform and grow
You can read as much about yoga as possible. You can listen to stories of transformation. You can buy all of the expensive clothes and gear. But the only way to truly reap the benefits of yoga is to do it. To get on your mat, to practice, to breath it in, to breath it out, to focus, to sit in it, to try, and to be.
Caitlin Kalosky 