Benefits of yoga meditation and exercise

Yoga is a fantastic 5000 years old discipline that is practiced even today, due to its numerous benefits. Yoga originates from India, and its name literally translates as the union, joining, or even harmony. This is because yoga actually tends to complete a human being, by stimulating mental, physical and emotional aspects of living. Yoga combines different postures, relaxing meditation and breathing exercises, all of them equally beneficial. Yoga postures involve simple stretching exercises and holding a posture for a certain number of breaths. The breath is very important, both as an inner guidance and as a fantastic way to oxygenize the body and calm the mind. Relaxing meditations are typically practiced at the beginning of the class and at the end of it. The purpose of meditation is to ground the body, soothe the mind and let go of any remaining tension.

Even throughout its long history, yoga has been practiced in many different ways, according to the rules of a particular yoga school. Some of them are more spiritual and work not only the body, mind and spirit, but also tend to improve different aspects of living such as self-awareness or self-control. Most of the yoga classes available today in the local fitness centers focus on the physical aspect of the training. This is a great starting point for an absolute beginner but for advanced or more spiritual training, it would be great to visit a yoga center.

As already mentioned a couple of times, yoga provides a full range of benefits, including physical, mental and spiritual ones. Benefits of physical exercises are perhaps the easiest to achieve. One can even benefit from an individual home training by engaging regularly in a series of simple stretching exercises. Yoga postures are great way to build stamina, endurance and strength. Yoga also lowers the blood pressure and improves the circulation, which is another great advantage. Holding a particular yogic posture for a while and then releasing it provides the unique benefit of massaging the internal organs. This happens because the blood flow becomes restricted on purpose, only to be released again. Improved blood circulation through the organs, massages the inner tissues and promotes better functioning.

In addition to physical benefits, yoga postures and meditation, combined with deep diaphragmatic nose breathing, can help to alleviate the stress and cure the anxiety and depression. Yoga focuses on the inner aspect of an individual, which increases the level of self-acceptance and self-control. Relaxing postures just before the bedtime can even cure insomnia.