There was a time when people would think of yoga as some sort of wacky practice that only the most eccentric people took part in. Anytime someone was pictured doing yoga they seemed to be perched on a mountaintop in some kind of strange and dangerous looking pose. But as the yoga trend has become more and more popular, people are starting to realize that yoga is not just something reserved for the most eccentric of people, yoga is for everyone. In fact, everyone from kids to cancer patients have reported finding mental and physical relief after adding a short yoga practice into their day.
When it is used regularly, yoga can help you to lose stress, ease anxiety, and adjust your endocrine system. But more than that, yoga helps you to learn to be 'non-reactive' to stressful situations. You will learn to breathe through stressful situations and trust your body to help you come out on the other side of whatever is bothering you. Think about all of the stressful situations that you have in your life. You wake up for work, drive in traffic, have an exhausting day at work, get back in your car, pick up the kids, get to dinner, and get ready to do it all over again the next day.
For most of us, this is an exhausting routine and that's why we pray for the weekends.
But now just for fun why don't we try to imagine it a different way? Let's say that you get up in the morning and you do some light yoga for 15-20 minutes in the morning, not much but just enough to get your energy flowing and to help to clear your head for the day. While you are doing your yoga practice, you aren't just doing postures that help you stretch, you are learning to breathe into your poses and let your breath actually guide your movements.
At the end of your short yoga session, your muscles are relaxed, you are more alert, and you have that amazing feeling of 'everything is gonna be alright'.
Just like that you will find that you get more accomplished during the day, you feel more relaxed, and most importantly you are able to keep your energy going strong. This is why people find yoga to be such a great addiction. Yoga doesn't just reach the stress of the body, it also reaches the emotional stress that we deal with every day.
Many people don't know this, but emotional stress can cause a dramatic physical effect on your body. Stress can cause chronic headaches, nausea, back pain, neck pain, jaw pain, skin irritation, and even more serious illnesses.
When you use yoga for just a few minutes a day, you are not just giving your body and mind the best possible start for the day, you are also protecting yourself in the long term as well. Yoga has been linked to lowered blood pressure, relief of migraines, TMJ relief, and relief from a variety of other common ailments.
You deserve to feel the health and well being that can come from a good yoga practice, are you ready to change your life?