Yoga is incredibly beneficial for the body and mind. Although the benefits of yoga have been known for thousands of years, we now also have a growing body of scientific evidence showcasing the beneficial effects.
The word yoga essentially means 'union' - and so I like to think of my yoga practice as a routine for uniting my mind and body. Extending on this, I also like to think of how yoga brings together benefits for both wellbeing and performance - helping me to feel good AND function well.
I have found that having a yoga practice as a regular part of my routine truly helps me to live well, and believe it will pay off into the future.
To help everyone quickly understand some of the many mind-body benefits of yoga I've compiled an easy to digest list. Knowing 'Why' yoga is good for mind-body wellbeing and performance is helpful. But don't stop there - I'd love it if this blog piqued your interest in trying yoga, or for those already familiar with yoga, acted as a reminder to get yourself on the mat.
Strength
Practising yoga builds physical and mental strength. The physical postures of yoga strengthen our muscles and body structures including our joints, and also strengthen how our organs function. But that's not all. Our mind is strengthened through yoga practice. The process of focusing our attention on our yoga practice, noticing distractions or disturbances that inevitably come up, and challenging ourselves to return to our practice and carry on, represents just one aspect of the mental strength training we obtain through yoga. Each time we notice our mind wander off, and bring our wandering attention back to our practice, we can consider that just like a mental bicep curl strengthening our brain and mind.
Stretch
Practising yoga stretches the body and mind. We work on progressing and sustaining physical flexibility through yoga practice. Having a stretchy, flexible, and supple body helps us reduce the risk of injury and deterioration so we can live well across our lifespan. Some people assume yoga isn't for them because they're not flexible. However, it's the very practice that helps build flexibility - so no excuses. Start where you're at, stretch yourself from there and build greater flexibility over time. This is how we stretch our mind. When we challenge ourselves to get outside of our comfort zone, that is a form of mental stretch we pursue through yoga. Exploring the experiences and edges of what our body can do - stretching our understanding of how we function and what we are capable of.
Stamina
Given the highly sedentary lifestyles many people lead it's incredibly important to get moving and keep moving regularly and consistently throughout life. Yoga helps to build our stamina and promote physical fitness. But we don't just build physical stamina through yoga practice, we build mental stamina as well. When we practice persevering with challenging postures - some of which can be held for extended periods of time - we're building mental staying power as well. We practice movements repetitively to build greater stamina, and sticking with repeated movements over time builds mental staying power. We are building fitness in our ability to sustain our focus instead of allowing our mind to wander off.
Stability
We train our balance in yoga postures and build greater stability in the body. But not only does standing on one leg (as featured in the image above) build physical balance and stability, the really cool thing is that we're building mental stability as well. By focusing on stabilising the body - for example, tuning our attention into the little movements we need to hold a balancing pose - we're building skills for stabilising the mind. We stabilise the mind's attention on what is important for the present moment and task (staying balanced), as opposed to falling off into distraction - and falling over as a result!
Stillness
Yoga is not just the dynamic, moving, physical practice many people assume it to be. Stillness is also trained. The easiest places to notice this in our yoga are at the start and end where there are often a few minutes of dedicated stillness either lying down or sitting. This part of the practice is highly beneficial. At the start, we can arrive on the yoga mat and acknowledge where our head is at and how our body is feeling. Towards the end of our practice, in stillness we acknowledge with gratitude the fact that we got ourselves onto the mat. We bring gratitude to our physical body and a mental pat on the back for the work and training of the mind throughout our practice.
Make a few minutes regularly each week to practice yoga. Think about the above elements and the mind-body benefits. As I always say, 'Practice makes Progress'.