09/24/2014
Thought I'd pass along some great info that I have found to be true!
Listed below are 5 mental benefits of why you should start practicing yoga that we think apply to the most people today. They are:
1.Yoga encourages you to relax, slow your breath, and focus on the present. These activities calm the nervous system and provide relief from your crazy life. Stress is reduced.
2.Yoga helps you to sleep. In fact, if you are having a hard time getting to sleep, try balasana (childās pose), supta baddha konasana (laying on your back with feet together, legs in a diamond), or viparita karani (feet straight up against a wall) and you will be snoring in no time.
3.Yoga helps you change for the better. Tapas, the Sanskrit word for āheatā, represent the fire or the discipline you must have with your practice. As you build your practice, your discipline builds. Many people then take that discipline into other areas of their life. They eat better, quit smoking, or completely change their lifestyle
4.Yoga decreases feelings of anger. Yoga teaches us to remain calm in the face of trials. You are taught to practice compassion. As you reduce anger and irritability, your whole way of being can improve.And my personal favorite:
5.Yoga helps depression and over eating. Yoga lowers cortisol levels what does that mean? Highly depressed people have high levels of cortisol in their system. In addition, high cortisol levels have produced āfood seekingā behavior in rats (you know what that is, when you are angry or sad, you tend to hit the refrigerator a little more than you should). So yoga, which lowers cortisol, reduces feelings of depression and helps to curb our impulse to overeat.
Try it, you don't have to be flexibleā¦open your heart to yoga and the rest will follow!