Popular Mindfulness & Yoga Practices: How They Improve Your Lifestyle
Mindfulness and yoga practices will add significantly to the quality of your life. If you haven’t tried yoga or meditation read on to learn ways it can change your life.
Ways Mindfulness and Yoga Practices Will Change Your Life for the Better
Below is a list of the biggest benefits of yoga and meditation.
Yoga Helps to Manage Stress
The practice of yoga and meditation lowers the stress chemicals in your body, specifically cortisol. The breathing practice, pranayama, maybe the biggest contributor to this benefit. The physical practice of yoga, the Asanas, will lower your blood pressure and boost your immune system. Neuroscientist have documented the shrinking or the amygdala or the part of the brain that stress activity generates . People who meditate more often have a smaller amygdala but have more activity in other pleasure centers.
Yoga Helps Manage Chronic Pain
Research has shown that yoga helps to manage pain in individuals with fibromyalgia. It also benefits individuals with cancer, multiple sclerosis, and other auto-immune diseases.
Yoga Improves Flexibility and Strength
Practicing yoga asanas regularly increases your range of movement and reduces nagging aches and pains. Don’t use lack of flexibility as an excuse to not try yoga. Everyone has to start somewhere. It is called a yoga practice for a reason, it is a process, not a signal perfect pose.
Besides improving your flexibility, yoga increases your strength. A complete practice will work most of the major muscles in your body and some muscles you may not know you had. A side effect of the practice is an increase in physical confidence. The more you practice yoga the more confidence you will have in pushing your practice forward.
Yoga Helps with Weight Management
The physical practice provides all the same benefits as any other exercise. The added benefit from yoga and a complimentary meditation practice comes from the improved connection to your body. With regular yoga practice, you become more aware of your hunger cues and it is easier to separate stress cues from hunger ones. Lower cortisol levels improve your body’s ability to process sugars (carbohydrates) which also adds to your weight loss.
Being Present, Increased Happiness, and Inner Peace
In simplest terms, yoga is a union of mind, body, and spirit. As you practice you are better able to enjoy the events of your daily life. Meditation helps you to breathe in calm and piece and let go of those things you can’t control. The end result is a happier, healthier, and more peaceful life.
Almost everyone who has tried yoga or meditation has achieved some of the above-mentioned benefits. There are benefits whether you practice one a week or daily.
Are You Ready to Change Your Life?
Mindfulness and Yoga practices are common and can have a significant impact on your life. If you are looking to see how the celebrities fit these practices in their life.