There's much more to achieving a balanced and healthy lifestyle than what meets the eye. We spend a great deal of time striving towards muscle gain and increased aerobic performance but the overall picture of our general well-being often gets overlooked. We discount the importance of our mental health, when in reality, this is the pinnacle of our well-being, and it is also the foundation from which our physical strength continues to grow.
The health benefits of yoga obviously have their more noticeable physical advantages such as increased strength and flexibility in the abdominal, back and chest muscles to name a few. However, yoga really is the gift that keeps on giving with an extensive range of benefits that reach far beyond the physical. There aren't many other fitness activities that will strengthen your body and your mind simultaneously, but yoga will create a balance that will give you the strong, beautiful body that you've always dreamed of.
The Healing Power Of Yoga
Yoga is often dismissed as being too easy and it is often thought of as just all about stretching but this could not be further from the truth. Practicing yoga can be a way to lower anxiety and depression and it is often cited as the best way to lead a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Just a few minutes of practice per day can regulate stress response systems by lowering heart rate, blood pressure and respiration. The effects of stress are hugely damaging when it comes to a person’s physical health, but yoga can reverse the effects of a stressful lifestyle which will increase the effectiveness of other workouts as a result.
Stress Messes With More Than Your Head
There are numerous negative effects of stress that can directly affect your workout such as slower recovery and higher risk of injury. However, one of the most detrimental effects that stress has on fitness is the effect it has on VO2 capacity. In order for your fitness to improve, your body needs to be able to utilize as much oxygen as possible during a workout, this is known as your VO2 max. Stress hampers this ability and therefore diminishes your chances of improvement from the get go.
Yoga is arguably one of the most effective ways to create a balanced and healthy lifestyle. In fact, one of the core aims of yoga is to create balance in all things. Yoga is even said to help serious athletes train for endurance sports. The art of yoga invites its participants to be at ease in holding difficult poses, which builds mental as well as physical strength. Yoga might just be the secre ingredient for your balanced and healthy lifestyle that you didn't know was missing.
