Yoga Pants!

Through the practice of yoga, a person can expect a uniting of spirit, mind, and body, as yoga is based on the belief that mind and body are a single entity, and that when the body reaches a state of harmony it can heal itself.

Yoga has increased in popularity in recent years, with an estimated 6 million Americans currently engaging in regular workouts. Part of yoga’s popularity is simply that it provides so many health benefits. It assists a person in becoming more aware of their body: their posture, their alignment, and the way they move. Yoga helps people become more relaxed and centered, less prone to stress, more energetic, happier, healthier, and more peaceful.

The start of a class usually consists of breathing and stretching, which aids participants in preparing mentally as well as physically. During most classes, the asanas are performed either as individual poses, or linked together in vinyasana. The class usually ends by a period of relaxation and meditation in shavasana (corpse pose).

There are several forms of which can be practiced. Generally different forms of yoga produce different benefits. For example, Iyengar is for correct bodily alignment, and often utilizes props (including blocks, straps, or cushions). Bikram is also known as hot yoga, as it’s performed in a heated room. It generally consists of a set of 26 poses done in a particular order. These are both forms of Hatha yoga and are commonly practiced in the US, as they focus on the use of strengthening and breathing exercises.

What are the benefits of yoga for you? For starters, it promotes flexibility, and improves both circulation and muscle strength. It’s benefits, however, are more than physical, as it also helps promote relaxation and calmness. It is designed to balance a person’s life, with respect to physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health.

Yoga has been practiced for thousands of years, but in recent years it has been studied scientifically. Modern medicine has demonstrated that it is beneficial for the body. There has been a great deal of research done into the health benefits over the years, both of the asanas (poses) and pranayama (breathing). Yoga produces physiological, psychological, and biochemical effects on the body.

Some of the physiological benefits include: reduction in pulse and respiratory rate, decrease in blood pressure, increased cardiovascular efficiency, improvement in excretory functions, improvement in hand/eye coordination, normalization of weight, and decrease in pain. The psychological benefits of yoga are just as important and include: mood and subjective well-being increases, anxiety and depression decrease, concentration improves, learning improves, social skills improve, depth perception improves, and self acceptance increases. Finally, the biochemical improvements that yoga promotes include: blood glucose decreases, sodium decreases, HDL cholesterol increases, LDL and VLDL cholesterol decreases, hemoglobin increases, total serum proteins increase, and the total white blood cell count decreases.

Yoga is a simple and profound practice which does more for people than other forms of exercise, and just a few yoga sessions a week are all a person needs to greatly increase their overall health and well-being.

Yoga instructor Ana Paula Hernandez enjoys sharing her yoga stories with others, and especially loves seeing her students achieve success. She believes the key to successful yoga is learning correct yoga poses.

Tags: asanas, excercise, fitness, health, holistic, Meditation, therapy, womens health, Yoga, yoga poses, yoga postures, yoga students, yoga teachers