Benefits of doing yoga

Doing regular yoga exercises helps us to relieve the stress and tensions we accumulate day to day, and that catches up with us both on a physical and mental level.

Yoga provides so many benefits that people say doing it can change our lives.  For example, doing ten minutes of exercise before going to bed will improve the quality of our sleep.  Furthermore, as we advance in practising yoga, we will reach a better state of wellbeing and we will start to notice the benefits that will encourage us to keep advancing. 

Main types of yoga

• Hatha yoga: This is the classic yoga. It refers to any type of yoga that teaches physical poses.  When a class is marketed as ‘hatha yoga’, in general it means they will show you a smooth introduction to the basic yoga poses.
• Vinyasa yoga: In vinyasa breathing and movement come together.   It is the dynamic transition from one pose to another, combining it with mindful breathing. The intensity of the practice can be like ashtanga; however, the sequence can change from class to class.  
• Ashtanga vinyasa yoga: A rigorous style of yoga which follows a specific sequence of poses and is similar to vinyasa, since both styles link each movement with breathing.  It is the most dynamic form of yoga and the one which demands the most strength and resistance.
• Bikram yoga: Created by the Indian guru and multimillionaire, Bikram Choudhury.  This is a sequence of 26 poses and 2 pranayama (breathing) exercises, done in a room at a temperature of 40 degrees.
• Acroyoga: The poses, or asanas, are carried out with another person who supports you, or vice versa, to do the exercise.  It is a huge personal challenge since we must trust ourselves and the other person we are doing it with.
• Aerial yoga: It is a type of yoga that is done whilst suspended in the air with the help of a swing or piece of fabric.  The poses can be maintained for longer and the stretches are more extensive than with the normal yoga.
  
  

10 benefits of yoga

• Inner peace: The most immediate results of doing yoga and meditation are related to cultivating inner peace and stillness.  They are the base so that the other benefits of yoga have a real and authentic effect.
• To live with more awareness: The more we practice, the more aware we become of our surroundings and the world around us.  Without a doubt, we generate more awareness about ourselves.  It opens up the path to improved concentration, coordination, reaction times and memory.
• Cardiovascular fitness:  Yoga contributes to the improved heart and lung function.  Thanks to the vinyasa that present poses linked to the breathing rate, it also generates aerobic activity that the body needs for the optimum functioning of a healthy heart.
• Improved circulation.  Through the poses and movement, yoga helps to improve circulation in an efficient way and helps the oxygenation of the cells of the body.
• Weight control: While the majority of the effects of yoga in weight loss are anecdotal or experimental, both yoga teachers and students find that yoga helps us to maintain a healthy weight.
• Increased strength and resistance. All the muscles in the body take part in yoga poses.  Therefore, yoga can increase our strength from head to toe.  At the same time, the coordination of the action with relaxation alleviates muscle tension throughout the body at the same time as increasing strength.
• Increased flexibility: Yoga improves flexibility and mobility and increases the range of movement.  With regular practise, the muscles stretch more easily, and the joints increase in elasticity, helping to prevent the pains that come with age.
• Regulation of the nervous-endocrine system: Yoga helps to regulate and re-establish the balance in our nervous and endocrine systems which are responsible for the process of reception, integration, and responding to all types of information that the body and mind receive. 
• Pain relief Practicing the poses of this discipline along with the relaxation, meditation and its combination, provide considerable pain relief in people with any type of illness or disease.
• Stress reduction: Through doing yoga, our body frees accumulated tensions and reaches a state of relaxation that influences our central nervous system as well as the circulatory, digestive, and respiratory systems.  Yoga doesn’t just enable the reduction in stress, but also enables us to be conscious of the causes behind it.