5 reasons you should start your yoga practice today.
Growing up, our bodies seem invincible. We recall memories playing with neighborhood friends; climbing trees, jumping, running, and falling, only to get back up again. We used our bodies almost like they were disposable, without the fear of injury. We had trust in these amazing machines that are designed for movement, and to keep us alive with our normal physiological actions. As we age, most of us start to become stagnant, and resist the playful and natural energy of movement. This sedentary lifestyle will catch up to all of us at some point if we don’t rediscover that playful energy.
In a world filled with increasing levels of noise, yoga acts as a reminder to slow down. Through the work of breath it reminds you what it means to be human. Yoga is a natural state for us, meaning that the things we “learn” from it, we aren’t actually learning, but finding within ourselves. In most religions, it refers to the things we are striving for when searching for God or Enlightenment is already within us. We simply have to look within to discover our purpose and connect to the inner consciousness.
Yoga offers many teachings, but from my experience, they all boil down to one thing: healing, that is healing for the mind and body through stress relief, stretching and strengthening, spirituality, community, and education.
1.) Stress Reliever
Our world is moving so fast with everything at the touch of a button, and that comes at a price concerning mental health. The percentage of people that are stressed and anxious continues to climb! There must be a way to help these people find the tools to regulate their emotions and find a balance to work at their optimal level. Well, there is, YOGA…
Yoga is a practice that can be done in 5 minutes or 5 hours! Both are beneficial to reducing stress, no matter what your practice looks like, so you can fit it in at any time. Yoga allows for you to slow down and calm the mind and body as one, creating an embodied experience. Typically allowing you to focus on your breath to give it the awareness that it needs. This form of conscious breathing will activate your parasynthetic nervous system (PNS), signaling your mind, “rest and digest.” You are activating the vagus nerve, putting your whole body in a relaxed state of being, taking away some of the stress from everyday life. Your SNS (Sympathetic Nervous System), is the state your body is in when reacting to stress, aka “fight or flight.”
There is a study that one of my trainings brought up, where a group of people who were chosen for a scientific study related to their nervous system. This study discovered that just about all of the subjects were living 90% of their time in the sympathetic nervous system, essentially living in their stress response. Our bodies become addicted to this state of being, and as a result, will run the body and mind down over time. When you are stressed, you are in dis-ease, and that will lead to disease. Chronic stress can literally cause chronic diseases that lead to unknown results in the longevity of the body.
If you are tired of feeling stress, anxious or depressed yoga is a great place to start. Overtime, your brain will be able to experience neuroplasticity, increasing its neural pathways and adapting to situations in a quicker and more effective way of balance, rather than an instant stress response. In my experience, yoga has made me a much calmer person and less reactive to situations. Yoga also decreases the physical stress within the body through asanas (physical practices). Overall, in today's world, this alone should be reasoning enough for everyone to start their yoga practice.
2.) Stretching and Strengthening
Our bodies are covered in muscles whose responsibility is to move our bones. Most commonly, the average person’s muscles are tight, restrictive and sore. They give us the strength to perform every single movement you make. When our muscles and joints have the liberty to move, the body can act at optimal levels, feeling unstoppable. It is critical for us to stretch, and take care of these muscles by keeping them hydrated and happy. Yoga offers a chance to strengthen the muscles from a term called hyperplasia. It builds more muscle fibre from stress without damaging and tearing the cells. You will be able to notice physical progress from yoga in about 6-12 months of practicing. Your body begins to learn how many and which muscle fibers to use for specific actions (think of the term muscle memory).
While practicing yoga, you may not look like the biggest person in a gym, but oftentimes you will be very strong in relation since they have more strength per unit volume due to hyperplasia. Yoga poses are also very good for stretching and lengthening different muscles to ensure better mobility within the joints. The body is interconnected. For example, when having lower back pain, you will want to stretch your hips and hamstrings to reduce the tugging on the muscles that are connected to the lumbar region. This will reduce the tension of the muscles fibers attached to the lower back. If you are into weight lifting, or are just wanting to stay in shape, yoga is a complementary practice to incorporate for the physical body.
3.) Spiritual (Self Reflective)
What exactly does spirituality mean? According to the Oxford dictionary spirituality is, “the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.” For me, spirituality is the expansion of your knowledge for both your soul and others, to reach our highest self, through self-exploration and love. Spirituality is separate from religion, however the two mesh very well together. Some religions emphasize self growth and exploration as a way to work on a spiritual level to become closer with their creator. I truly believe that the more time you take for your soul, the more useful you will be as a person to the world around you. Spiritual teachings offer tools to look within and tap into your inner being.
Like I said, yoga is an embodied practice. Meaning, it takes you out of your mind and into your body. In other terms, it meshes the connection between the two consciously, when we are usually unconsciously allowing our bodies to move all day. Yoga is a spiritual practice because you sit with yourself and observe yourself with meditation, philosophical teachings, and the asanas (physical practice). Yoga invites this mindset of detoxification from our external environments into a deeper work within our internal environment. We evoke the senses to enhance our intuition.
After my physical practice when I lay in meditation, it is oftentimes my most connected and insightful meditations, feeling pure presence or enlightening thoughts. When we move the body in such a way through our asana, it allows for a sense of surrendering where some real work can begin to occur. We explore our ego, and direct ourselves back to the soul and its essence. Through the practices that are written in yoga philosophy and in modern day yoga, we learn about this way of life to find our souls highest self to elevate and expand. I will expand on this more in the last reason, education.
4.) Community
Oftentimes people feel lonely in our society, or feel like they aren’t part of a “tribe.” Well, I am here to say that a yoga studio, in my experiences, is oftentimes one of the most welcoming communities of people. Yoga studios offer a connection of like-minded people all in one room together on similar journeys. Everyone is there to either have some kind of release or to just simply be present. Yoga literally means union. You are there to create a union, not only with yourself, but with others. Humans are social beings that need social interaction. If you feel lonely or if you feel that you can’t quite connect with your friends on the level you crave, then I am positive you can find some pretty awesome people at your local studio.
5.) Educational
Lastly, if you’re someone who loves to read, loves to learn about ancient wisdom, or just loves anatomy, then the topic of yoga has endless educational possibilities. We can look to the physical practice of yoga to educate yourself on safe, gentle, and restorative movements to teach you how to move in your body. There are thousands of books written solely on the asanas of yoga and the benefits of the postures on a physiological level. You can learn from your teachers exactly what is going on in the mind and body. An example would be how twisting postures can activate your GI (gastrointestinal) tract and help with digestion and detoxification of the internal organs.
Yoga has been around for thousands of years and has some powerful ancient teachings that promote a specific way of life. If one was to dive into yoga philosophy, the first three books written on it are (in order), The Vedas, The Upanishad, The Sutras. Within these three books, the first teachings of yoga emerged from India, transforming into what we have today. I find that the most interesting part of the evolution of yoga into western culture, is that when people hear the word yoga, they think movement, workout, meditation. However, yoga is so much more than that. It is an ancient way of life that is timeless.
According to ancient teachings, it is a process to connect to spirit or Divine. The eight limbs of yoga are designed to help you reach the eighth limb, called samadhi— union with the Divine or an experience of pure presence. There are endless texts and books to study and adhere to, to become the yogi you wish to be. You can educate yourself with the ancient ways, or the more modern understandings of the physical and neurological benefits. One of the most amazing gifts that we have as a human being is our ability to learn, read, and connect. The yoga teachings are there to empower and uplift you from your very core.
These teachings are so impactful in my life and people around the whole world, and the best part is that you can literally do yoga anywhere…. No mat is needed. Just sit, be present, or maybe move your body organically. Whatever you do to practice yoga, I am sure you will benefit from it on some level, but remember, it is a practice, and with a practice there is always room to grow.
I also want to thank you. I thank you for the work that you are doing for yourself, even just by reading this. The work is not easy, but the sooner you commit the easier it will get.
As we say, the light in me honors the light in you.
Namaste (soon to be yogi),
- J