30 Benefits of Yoga For Women

The ancient practice of yoga offers many benefits to modern day woman. With so many new exercise fads on the market, it’s no wonder why this one has stuck around. Not only is it safe, it offers much more than a six pack and weight loss. Yoga is a well rounded form of exercise that can improve all aspects of your life physically and emotionally. Let’s take a look at some of the top benefits a daily yoga practice can offer women.

1. Easy On The Joints

Yoga is one of the safest exercises available it doesn’t break down joint cartilage and is focused on joint health. It’s focus on alignment and balance help you learn how to listen to your body without pushing yourself too far too quickly. Unlike other forms of exercise, it’s not competitive and is focused on long-term physical maintenance. As you increase flexibility in your joints, you are less likely to twist an ankle, seriously injure yourself in a fall or doing other activities. Your joint pain caused by inflammation will also diminish with a healthy lifestyle and regular yoga practice.

2. Builds Strength

Yoga involves many ways of holding your own body weight and engaging your muscles in ways that builds strength very quickly. The breathing method in yoga allows for a higher oxygen intake which also helps build strong muscles. The variety of movements allow muscles to develop with adequate flexibility and focuses on strengthening the whole body. Poses such as side plank and chaturanga, the yogi push up, will help build strength that will assist you in your day to day activities.

3. Improves Digestion

Regular digestion is hard to maintain when most of us sit for a living and are tempted to eat things that don’t help us digest. The twists in yoga and a number of other poses such as plow pose, actually stimulate your digestion process and are designed to break up food from the intestinal walls and move it in the right direction. Instead of spending money on laxatives, you can pay for your yoga studio membership. The chronic constipation that plagues so many people and causes other serious health complications will be a thing of the past with a regular yoga practice.

4. Helps You Think Positive

Yoga releases endorphins that will leave you feeling more positive right away. The more you practice, the better you feel. Yoga has been used for therapy and in treatment of substance abuse. It also helps to regulate your hormones to balance your emotions. You will feel more optimistic about the future as your creativity is stimulated and you begin to see more options to get you where you would like to go.

5. Improves Complexion

Not only will yoga help remove toxins that can create acne but it will also improve the circulation to your skin to improve your complexion. Inversions like headstands and handstands are known to help improve complexion and regularly sweating will make your skin soft and glowing. As you learn upside down poses such as shoulder stand and forearm stand, you will bring fresh blood, oxygen and nutrients to your face which will make it plump and less wrinkled. Your collagen growth will be stimulated as well.

6. Improves Your Love Life

Besides having more strength and flexibility, your lover may notice all types of changes in you. Your mood will improve, your confidence and your patience. Yoga helps you focus on the things you love about your partner and gives your libido a nice boost as an added bonus. The energy center associated with sexual energy, the sacral chakra, can open as a result of yoga.

7. Boosts Your Confidence

Yoga helps build confidence because it helps women accept their body as it is. It teaches you to develop a healthy relationship to your body and not think negatively about yourself. It helps you recognize how to overcome obstacles like fear and pursue what is truly important to you. As you develop a regular practice and notice progress, you will feel as though you can put your mind to anything you want to accomplish. As you overcome your fears by doing challenging poses like handstands, you will learn practical ways to approach fears you have in your life.

8. Keeps You Young

Yoga is a healthy habit that keeps you looking young. The increased oxygen and blood flow to your face from bringing your heart above your head leaves you glowing and helps stimulate collagen growth. It helps many people replace other habits such as smoking or drinking which age your body. Yoga gives you more energy to maintain an active lifestyle and feel vibrant. The yogic lifestyle also encourages eating a plant based diet which contains phytonutrients that help you maintain your girlish looks. Yoga also helps you sleep more deeply which will help to keep you looking youthful.

9. Reduces Depression

There are many types of yoga that help alleviate depression. As your body’s energy increases from back bends, you will feel stronger motivation to get things done. As your blood becomes pure from regular digestion, your brain will be able to think more clearly and your emotions will become more stable. Yoga releases endorphins that help you feel better right away and optimistic about the future. Your stress will become more manageable as your nervous system is calmed by the deep breathing.

10. Lengthens Bulky Muscles

You will develop muscle definition and long lean muscles from the strengthening poses that also aim to stretch your muscles. Yoga has a healthy balance of poses that require flexing your muscles and poses that allow your connective tissue to release in deep stretches. Poses like warrior two and dancer’s pose lengthen the large muscle groups in the body on the legs, arms and back.