Posts Tagged ‘Greater Awareness’

Benefits of Basic Yoga

Basic Yoga is extremely simple to pick up. No exercise equipment is needed. You only spend 30 minutes at the most doing everything. All that is needed is yoga mat and some space then unless you have serious mobility issues, you can get started right away. The human body is a very resilient and surprising piece of machinery. It can do things that can surprise us.

Practicing the various yoga positions, also known as asanas increases your flexibility by working on your joints, your muscles, tendons and ligaments. You will notice a significant improvement in your flexibility as you continue the practice of yoga. You will be pleased with the benefits of yoga such as muscle toning and the reduction of body fat.

Chances are, you can do it too, but not immediately. Doing any one of the advanced asanas without prior conditioning can lead to severe injury on the part of the one doing the attempt. Proper and consistent practice of basic yoga techniques is necessary in order to make these advanced poses achievable.

One of the major benefits of yoga that occurs is the ability to put the mind and the body in a state of harmony, primarily with meditation.  Meditation allows you to clear your mind and gives you an inner peace. Yoga and its meditation aspect can help to remove unhealthy stress from your mind and body. Stress has negative affects on your emotional, endocrinal and physical systems.

Even if one does not desire to be able to perform the more advanced and complicated asana, there are benefits to practicing basic yoga exercises, no matter the school of thought you choose to follow. Improved balance, strength, and flexibility are the first most obvious benefits. 

Benefits of yoga that might be less obvious would be a greater awareness of oneself and of nature. Yoga has also been shown to offer health benefits such as improved internal organ function, a boosted immune system, reduction of the symptoms of many chronic diseases and many, many other benefits. Yoga of all kinds, including basic yoga, aids relaxation and reduces tension without fatigue and too much exertion.

Basic yoga involves seven types of body movement during exercise including circumduction, flexion, abduction, adduction, rotation, extension, and hyperextension. Combinations of these body movements are used to create the yoga stances and positions. These movements are combined with breathing exercises and concentration. Breathing is also the guide in basic yoga for coming into an asana, holding an asana, and coming out of it. All the movements are ideally done gracefully. To learn how to do basic yoga, look for a qualified certified instructor and failing that, look for educational videos that may help you.