8 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Yoga

Yoga is one of those practices that guarantee a relaxing, calming demeanor and sharpness of thought the more you take a stab at it. With millions practicing it globally, it promises something unique for everyone. It’s accessible to every person out there and superb for all body shapes, gender or stage of development.

Here are top things you probably didn’t know about yoga that should encourage you to continue rolling out that mat and making the most of an ancient practice with modern benefits.

1. Enhances Efficiency and Attentiveness

No matter where you live or work so many things can distract you inwardly and externally. At work, we all have to deal with deadlines and anxious moments all the time. To do lists are always piling up as we handle difficult customers or pick noisy phones.

No matter where you work or do, yoga has been found effective in helping people remain attentive and highly productive at work. 

2. Yoga Remains a Unifier that Transcends Boundaries

While many people globally believe the yoga they practice is an ancient workout that sprouted out suddenly, the truth is modern yoga isn’t centuries old. The practice may go back a few millennia but the modern, meaningful yoga we know today is traceable to the nineteenth century in India.

It was actually once used to rally India together while fighting for independence and became a major unifier that transcended tribes, languages and religions. Yoga Gurus such as Swami Vivekananda took the step to spread the practice globally while Krishnamacharya among other gurus popularized pose-holding by the turn of the twentieth century, including the lost art of posture and breath-holding of hatha yoga.

3. The Term “Yoga” is Millennia Old

Modern yoga may build on ancient tenets of the discipline and perfects them superbly, but yoga has been known for millennia. Ancient Sanskrit writings carried the term “yoga” as late as the fifteenth century BC. While the term has meant so much over the years, it was also once used to infer impressive productiveness, starry hosts and warlike propensities.

4. Proven Breath Controller and More

Yoga is effective in many ways, particularly in helping practitioners learn how to relax and calm themselves through proper control of their breath. At work in the office or out there anxieties can pile up running our hearts faster with rushed, uncontrollable breathing. This can affect our self-esteem and quality of life. Yoga teaches a lifelong calming skill and helps develop an effective breathing balance

5. Regulates Respiration, Heartbeat to Blood Pressure

As you would expect, yoga has become a heavily researched topic for the last few decades. In the process, yoga, especially postural practice together with other sequences and outlines have been found to help the body regulate respiration, pressure of blood and rate of heart beat.

6. Helpful for Asthmatics and Senior Citizens

Studies also indicate yoga isn’t just superb for the physically fit and young generation. A 2016 study pointed out that even those above sixty had notable improvements in their mobility and physical balance after engaging in postural processes of yoga.

Tests have also indicated yoga can come in handy for asthmatics as it can aid in better breathing. In the trials, chronic inflammations of the airways were better opened and managed with yoga breathing programs than normal asthmatic care (note that research is still ongoing and doesn’t mean yoga should replace inhalers).

7. Excellent Therapy for the Depressed and Anxious

As long as you’re alive, depressing turn of events and restlessness cannot be avoided. Emotional breakups can be draining while loneliness and fear of tomorrow can be devastating. Losing loved ones or an adored feline companion can make us sad and stressed as we try to cope with the aftermath.

By working on your mood and boosting your mental processes, yoga helps to deal with major stresses and anxieties of our time. In a study, yoga showed signs of helping deal with PTSD among women. After a few weeks of practical yoga, the participating women lowered their PTSD to undetectable levels; yoga helped create personal awareness while allowing participants to regulate their emotions better.

8. Doesn’t Just Make you Flexible 

With regular practice yoga can really help you to stretch and attain superior flexibility. But that’s not all. It also stimulates the parasympathetic system thus reducing stress.

Yoga boosts immunity, vitality and circulatory wellness, including enhancing energy and improving muscle and bone health. Apart from helping people understand their inner selves better, yoga also comes in handy in decision making by boosting concentration and brain function.