Practicing yoga is noted for multiple health benefits such as having better sleep at night, clear respiratory system, missing out on illnesses and a lot more. However, these health benefits are the most obvious ones and there are a lot more health benefits and advantages that yoga can give yet they are often overlooked. Here are a few overlooked benefits of practicing yoga.
- Promoting the placebo effect
There are still a lot of illnesses that still don’t have cure. All that doctors can give patients affected by these illnesses are medicines that may prevent symptoms but do not really cure the illness at all. This is where the placebo effect can play its part. The placebo effect is a positive effect towards a treatment or medicine yet it cannot be attributed to the properties of the drug or treatment but because the patient simply trusts and believes that the drug or treatment will cure him.
Practicing yoga is a great way to promote the placebo effect for patients because they can choose to establish a mantra while practicing yoga. They can chant their mantra while doing yoga and chant it as well while doing meditation. This is simply a mind over matter thing and also practices the law of attraction. For patients who are clinging to their last ray of hope then this should never be bad for them. In fact, this worked for a lot of yoga practitioners out there.
- Affects all the body systems
Whenever you practice yoga, you are able to develop the right posture then that will impact your respiratory system as breathing passages are corrected. As the respiratory system improves then so does the nervous system. This is much like a domino effect affecting body systems positively. Since everything in your body is connected in one way or another then the positive effect on a certain organ will most likely be carried on to the organ right beside it and so on and so forth.
- Helps with better awareness of self-care
Normally, people who are taking treatments are just passive in the way they receive health care. With yoga, it is the other way around. You are the one responsible for keeping yourself healthy by doing yoga. Once you are able to experience the benefits of yoga then you become more conscious of your lifestyle and habits because you would not want to waste away the efforts and work that you put in doing yoga regularly. Yoga helps shape your mentality towards living and eating healthily.
- You are able to help others
Most yoga practitioners fall in love with the practice once they reap the benefits of it. Due to their positive experience, they are willing to share it to others and even try to convince them to practice yoga and enjoy the benefits themselves. In other words, they easily become ambassadors of the practice that they are most willing to teach and help others by telling them about the wonderful effects of yoga. Once people that they have taught or convinced to do yoga start reaping the benefits of yoga, then that is when their form of help to them has finally materialized.
- Fight off viruses and allergies
There is an element of yoga known as “Kriyas” which is a cleansing practice that involves proper breathing methods that will help clean our gastrointestinal tract. The cleansing process from within is done naturally and unwanted bacteria are removed from the body including toxins. Yoga indirectly protects your body from any form of bacteria build up that may lead to viruses and allergies.
- Strengthens relationships
Once you start to dig deeper into yoga practice then you will be educated of the yogic philosophies. Some of the yogic philosophies include being compassionate towards others, honesty and getting only what you need and not wants. Once you are able to embody these philosophies in your life and start practicing them then that would definitely reflect towards your relationship with people around you. You become a much better person by being more compassionate, honest and not selfish. Aside from helping your social relationships, this may have a greater impact towards your loved ones particularly your partner in life.
- Living a drug free life
Once you start practicing yoga, you become healthier and rarely get sick or needing supplementary help. Due to this effect in your life, you rarely use drugs or medicines anymore and you tend to live an organic life. This is actually the opportunity for you to no longer rely on drugs for help in any form. Drugs and medicines may have their respective uses but taking advantage of them will take a big toll on our lives and our antibodies may become more susceptible to illnesses because they become more reliant on the help that drugs and medicines provide. Aside from the serious side effects of taking drugs and medicines, you can also be able to save money by buying them. However, it is still advisable to keep a few of them in your medicine cabinet in case of emergency.
- Boost your confidence and self-esteem
By doing yoga, you are able to stay fit and healthy. These advantages could go a long way as they can greatly affect how you feel deep inside. Yoga helps you get rid of your insecurities and as you thrive to become a better person, you become satisfied with what you have and stay confident with it. Your self-esteem will rise sky high but not to the point that you become overconfident or a braggart. Yoga develops you as a person who knows himself and his capabilities.
- Achieve peace of mind
Yoga can always be connected with meditation and this practice is the best way for you to achieve peace of mind. The more you meditate and practice yoga, you are able to get rid of your demons and live a peaceful life. Yoga also helps slow down negative thoughts that may affect our inner peace such as regret, loss, fear, anger and a lot more leaving only positive thoughts in our minds. Meditation is also a great method on how to relieve yourself from stress. Since stress is a major factor in how we develop illnesses then you are able to prevent them from happening in your life through constant yoga and meditation.
- Helps you achieve deep sleep
Just because you are exhausted and dog tired from work does not really mean that you are going to have a deep sleep at night. Achieving deep sleep is actually a complex process as there are a lot of factors to it. With yoga, you no longer have to learn the actual process of being able to achieve deep sleep because the practice alone will help you achieve it naturally. There are a lot of elements in yoga that can give downtime for the nervous system. This is the reason why you are able to receive maximum relaxation after a yoga session which includes meditation. This is also the same reason how you are able to get deep sleep at night minus the stress and negative thoughts that may affect your sleep.
- Release muscle tensions
We all have natural habits that may cause muscle tensions, fatigue, and even soreness. Whenever you practice yoga, you are able to release these tensions due to the yoga exercise routines that you are going to do. Bad gases that are stuck in your muscles and joints are also released in the process. Aside from feeling more relaxed and be free from muscle and joint pains, you will also lighten your mood as you kept away from the inconvenience that the pains could give you.
- Improves balance
There are particular yoga routines that may require you to balance yourself. As you keep on doing these routines, you are able to master your balance and this will eventually roll on to the way you ride a bike or skateboard and even when hiking rough terrains. Yoga increases your proprioception which is one’s ability to determine what his or her body is doing in its location. This is the main reason how yoga improves a person’s balance.
- Improves your focus
According to studies, practicing yoga helps improve your body coordination, reflexes, and even memory. All of these are important if you want to stay focused on everything that you do. Yoga is also known to help clear your thoughts through meditation and this can also be attributed how a yogi can stay focused on his or her tasks. Without all those distractions, the focus would never be an issue and doing yoga is the way to go for this.
