Yoga for Health – Regular Practice, Remarkable Results
I first started practicing yoga for health reasons, and this is the main reason I continue to practice. Throughout my childhood and teens, I had difficulty breathing, wasn’t very fit or strong, and had lots of aches and pains in my back, shoulders and neck. In addition, I was quite nervous, anxious, tense and confused.
Yoga for Healthy Aging
Well, thirty-five years later, I’m happy to say I’m feeling a lot better! I’m nearly fifty now and practising yoga for health reasons has enabled me to feel mentally and physically healthier than I felt in my younger years. This is a really empowering feeling. I don’t fear getting older and I do not correlate age with weakness or degeneration. This experience has led me to the belief that as we get older, we have the potential to develop a greater sense of wisdom, inner strength and a clearer idea of our life purpose. Yoga practice supports us in this process of evolution and growth.
Foundations of Yoga for Health
In order to grow mentally, emotionally and spiritually as we age, we must pay attention to the foundation of our physical health. If we become aware of how to move and breathe well; to eat well (in a nutshell – eat plenty of vegetables); and stay hydrated; we can make the best of whatever state we find ourselves in. Not everyone is naturally sporty, healthy or resilient to stress. With yoga, we can strengthen a weak constitution that we might have been born with. We can learn how to support ourselves in managing the physical or mental challenges that we meet as we journey through life.
Happiness, Fulfillment and Health
Yoga is a holistic practice that enables us to take care of our whole self. The beauty of the practice is that it is adaptable according to our individual needs. We all have different constitutions that make us susceptible to different types of mental, emotional or physical issues. Although taking care of the physical body is a good place to start, this narrow focus is not enough to keep us healthy.
Yoga for Health – A Holistic Approach
Yoga is known for its positive effects on the mind, nervous system and emotional health. If our mind is racing and doesn’t allow us to sleep, our health will suffer. If we are sad, frustrated or nervous this has knock on affects on our nervous system, which affects our wellbeing. If we lack purpose or meaning in our life, we can attempt to fill this need with over consumption or addictive behaviours.
Take a Yoga Class to Boost Your Energy and Health
Yoga takes care of the whole person, supporting our health, wellbeing and resilience and enabling us to love life and live it to the full. This is true, regardless of our mobility, fitness, age or current health. So, however you are feeling right now, yoga practice (regular yoga practice) can help you to feel better within your whole self. Try making a habit of comparing how you feel at the start of a class, and how you feel at the end. You’ll start to notice there is usually an improvement in your physical, mental, emotional or spiritual energy. Many students often feel that a good yoga class can create a profound improvement in their energy on all levels! Have a look at the timetable to book on to a Holistic Yoga class by clicking here.
Balance Your Energies to Protect Your Health
It is common to see that yoga students often gravitate towards the type of practice that nurtures the energy that they are already strong in. Additionally, there is a tendency to shy away from the practices that work to build energy in the area in which they struggle. So, for instance, fitter people might prefer a stronger physical practice, rather than working on breathing and relaxation. And those who are less strong or confident physically might prefer to work with relaxation and breathing practices. Choose the practice that feels more challenging to you, but do remember that we regenerate when we rest. It is important to choose a more restful practice if you are working hard, stressed or feeling a little under the weather.
Resting to Support Your Spirit
On the subject of rest and regeneration, one last thing to note is that when practicing yoga for health reasons: less is more. Often I find that the more simple a practice is, the more powerful. There is far less to be gained from putting your foot behind your head, than from a simple standing tree pose. This is the difference between practicing yoga for health reasons, and practicing yoga to look good for Instagram. Yoga is much more about your individual mindset, focus and positive intention than it is about achievement, competition and getting there. The simpler poses keep us in a state of simplicity and humility; providing no chance for the ego and vanity to take hold.
Recognising Our Perfection
In any case, in terms of yoga philosophy we are all already perfect, just as we are, with all our flaws and imperfections. This yogic view of life perceives our life challenges as perfectly crafted by life itself, providing us with the exact conditions we require to learn and grow – if that is our desire. Yoga offers us many strategies so that we feel supported through this learning process. From my own experience, the yoga practices certainly help to make our journey through life a little easier and the burdens we carry, a little lighter. The only way to test out the truth of this statement for yourself, is to commit to a regular practice and be open to the possibility of positive change in your own life.
