Relieves stress
The Mayo Clinic points to the large number of studies that link regular yoga to lower levels of stress and anxiety. For example, yoga activates the parasympathetic nervous system, a counterbalance to the fight or flight response to stress, ultimately reducing levels of cortisol, a primary stress hormone, which can impair thyroid function, damage muscle tissue, increase blood pressure, cause inflammation, and more if cortisol is too high.
Boosts brain function
It’s a well-known fact that regular physical activity can lead to better brain function, but research published by the Journal of Physical Activity and Health claims that 20 minutes of yoga a day can promote increased brainwaves and mental clarity compared to almost any other form of exercise, including running. The key: a connected movement of the body and the breath.
Yoga challenges your whole body
Are you a slave to weight machines at the gym? Well, yoga expert Rodney Yee points out that if you do yoga regularly, you’re already doing your share of resistance training. « When we do yoga poses, we put our bodies in positions that end up calling on the vast majority of our muscles for support, » he says. “So you are using your own body weight as resistance! »
Whereas sports like hockey or tennis only require resistance from about 15% of our muscles, yoga offers a full-body workout using full support of the cardiovascular, skeletal, muscular, and endocrine systems.
