Breathe in, raise your arms over your head, breathe out, and fold over your legs so your hands are resting on the floor. If you’ve ever taken a yoga class, this set of instructions will be familiar to you. Yoga hinges on the focus on the breath as a way to access the sacred connection between your mind and your body.

But did you know that aside from all the spiritual aspects, there are some concrete benefits practicing yoga can offer? From helping you have a better balance to reducing chronic pain and inflammation, yoga can transform every aspect of your mind and body. Read on to learn more about some of the benefits of practicing yoga.

Lower Stress

One of the biggest advantages of a yoga practice is that it helps to reduce your stress. Yoga and meditation are very closely tied, and meditation has proven stress-relieving benefits. Mindfulness, taking just a few minutes a day to be present in the moment without worrying about the past or the future, can do a lot to bring down your stress levels.

Your stress levels will also benefit from the physical movement aspect of yoga. Exercise releases positive endorphins that improve your mood and lower your cortisol levels. So yoga can do a double whammy on your stress levels, attacking them from a mental and a physical angle.

Less Anxiety and Depression

In addition to lowering stress levels, mindfulness and exercise are also great for anxiety and depression. In many cases, anxiety stems from ruminating on the past or the future. Yoga focuses on being here in the moment with your body as it is now, breaking some of that anxiety cycle.

In the case of depression, those endorphins come to the rescue again. Depression stems from an imbalance of chemicals in your brain, including cortisol and serotonin, the happiness hormone. Yoga lowers your cortisol levels and encourages your brain to make more serotonin, helping to balance out those chemical levels in your brain.

Reduced Inflammation

Inflammation is a fancy way to refer to swelling, a normal immune response to an allergic reaction or injury. But chronic inflammation is connected with conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Practicing yoga on a regular basis can help reduce chronic inflammation.

The connection between yoga and inflammation is not solid yet, but a few small studies have suggested that it can help reduce inflammation. This could be connected to regular moving the inflamed area, engaging your body’s healing systems. Doctors are still working to understand how this works, but there seems to be some science supporting the idea that it does work.

Better Heart Health

It should come as no surprise that yoga improves your heart health. Almost any sort of exercise, even walking just half an hour a day, will increase your cardiac function. And an exercise as gentle as yoga can be a great place for beginners to start engaging in exercise.

Some of this benefit may also be tied to the lower stress levels. Chronic stress can cause high blood pressure, which is linked to all sorts of heart disease. By setting up a regular yoga practice, not only will you be giving your heart a much-needed workout, but you’ll also be lowering your blood pressure and creating better conditions for your heart anyhow.

Reduced Chronic Pain

Living with chronic pain can feel like a nightmare that you can never escape from. But yoga may actually provide a way to wake up, escape the pain, and avoid having to take too many painkillers. This is especially true in the case of arthritis patients.

Yoga provides a gentle enough workout that it will not cause too much stress to arthritic joints. But it does encourage you to bend and flex those joints, making them stronger and keeping them healthy. This can reduce some of the chronic pain that comes along with arthritis.

Better Sleep

Lower stress levels alone could be enough to improve your sleep quality, as could exercise. But the mindfulness that comes with yoga can also help you fall asleep faster and feel more well-rested. And that may be more important than you realize.

Chronic sleep deprivation is linked to a wide spectrum of terrifying conditions. Alzheimer’s, heart disease, stroke, and depression are at the top of that list. Missing out on sleep has a bigger impact than on your Starbucks budget – it could mean the difference between sickness and health.

Better Flexibility and Balance

Yoga is a practice of bending your body into all manner of poses that require core strength, balance, and flexibility. This helps promote the mind-body connection and celebrate the beauty your body is capable of. But attending a class with a yoga instructor also helps you become more flexible and have better balance.

Flexibility may not seem like that big a deal in everyday life, but it can help keep your joints healthy and active. And balance can be very important, especially as you get older. There’s no better way to improve these two things than to practice them regularly during yoga.

Discover the Benefits of Practicing Yoga

There are many benefits of practicing yoga, from a better mood and lower stress levels to a reduction in inflammation and better sleep. Yoga helps you connect with your body and learn to become present in the moment. It allows you to tap into your body’s amazing potential to heal itself when given the right resources.

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