First things first, I am no yoga expert and am far from qualified to discuss the benefits and what poses are good for what, but this is what I have to share from my experiences!
Since I made the discovery of Yoga with Adriene, and her amazing 30 days of yoga series, I've fallen in love and its become a part of my daily routine. I have just enough room for my yoga mat in my little uni room and I love to roll it out at the end of the day to relax and wind down. But what makes yoga so special I hear you ask? Well...
It builds strength and flexibility... Seems like a rather obvious one, but yoga is actually a pretty good workout. Okay, its not as strenuous as lifting weights or any of that jazz, but it definitely gets your muscles working. I can certainly feel my upper body becoming stronger and I can very nearly touch my toes for longer than 0.5 seconds with straight legs which excites me greatly.
It helps with your breathing technique... Yoga is a great excuse to focus entirely on yourself and your breathing. Adriene is great at encouraging you to use and focus on your breath and when practising something a little more tricky, focusing on your breath is a great way to get through it. Also practising poses like savasana is an excellent opportunity to use your breath to relax your body.
It will improve your posture... Since a lot of yoga includes sitting and standing with your shoulders rolled back, chest open and back straight it's a great way of getting out of that slumped position we seem to inhibit from sitting in chairs all day! Mountain pose is great for this.
Makes you more body aware... This is more within the practice itself, but you can really feel every muscle working is some poses, plank and warrior especially. Even thinking about your neck and how that should feel, which is a body part I tend to forget about. Warrior is great for engaging the core and getting those legs working!
It's very relaxing... Adriene always dedicates the final minute or two to savasna which is a nice (extremely simple) pose which lets you unwind, breathe and fall into a state of relaxation, perfect to end with. If you do this in the evenings, or before bed, it should help you sleep that little bit better and I find I get to sleep a lot quicker if I combine this is no technology before bed which doesn't always work but... I also feel so much more calm and collected after a practice.
Yoga is my favorite thing to do! My friend and I do a lot of acro/couple yoga together and it really strengthens our relationship. Yoga is so relaxing, but still a nice workout. Great post!
ReplyDeletexo, Lauren-lee
www.laurenleegrace.blogspot.com
Yoga is amazing, such a good cleanse for mind body and soul. I will definitely be checking out 'Yoga with Adriene' :)
ReplyDeleteKelly
potkb.blogspot.co.uk