By Faye Martins
Yoga has been practiced for thousands of years. It was developed alongside Hinduism, which is one of the world's oldest religions still in practice today. The reason so many people practice yoga for heart health resides in the way that it addresses the mind, the body, and the link between the two.
To understand how yoga works on the body, it's vital to first understand how this ancient practice works to fortify both the body and the mind. The benefits will then become more sensible to even novice practitioners as the core principles are understood.
The Core Philosophy of Yoga
Yoga was designed as an ancient system of healing by the people whom began practicing this discipline several thousands of years ago. The main idea was that the mind and body are linked as two parts that form a whole, which meant that more than physical activity was required to keep a person healthy.
This is why yoga focuses on not only physical movements, but it also focuses on fortifying the mind. Inner calmness is one of the concepts vital to yoga practitioners because of how they can positively affect the body while working to create a mental discipline that makes all aspects of an individual's life better.
The idea that the mind and body are linked is becoming increasingly clear in modern medicine. Numerous scientific studies have begun to investigate the link between a sound mind and a healthy body.
It then makes sense that this ancient practice that intertwines mental discipline with fairly gentle movements has a positive influence on everything including the cardiovascular system, the leg and elbow joints, and the mental state of a person.
It can even be influential in fighting things like depression and stress, which allows the body to maintain itself in more efficient ways while improving a person's general quality of life.
Furthermore, yoga focuses on fortifying the body in ways that support a better range of movement and more flexibility. This acts as a preventative measure that tends to reduce the occurrence of injuries by making the body more limber overall, which in turn makes it more capable of absorbing everything from traumatic shocks to repetitive injuries that can cause things like chronic knee and elbow problems.
Understanding How Yoga Benefits the Body
Once the principles of yoga are understood, the plethora of benefits it brings makes more sense. By addressing this mind-body link, this practice works to revitalize the body, to protect it, and to even make it more capable of acting like a well-oiled machine.
For example, one of the most pronounced benefits of yoga is how it can positively affect the heart system. It trains the mind to relax, which greatly helps to reduce the overall stress that an individual encounters. It also trains the body to become more physically fit, which means that the heart requires less effort to circulate blood.
When yoga is practiced regularly, it can carry other benefits that extend far past heart cardiovascular health. It can result in more restful and fulfilling slumber, a reduction in external dependencies like addictions, and better stress management skills.
That's why some of the best practitioners tend to be relaxed, thoughtful, and youthful in appearance. The power that this age-old practice has to change the very core of an individual is awe-inspiring by itself, but the large range of age groups and types of people whom can practice yoga to receive these many benefits is even more exciting.
Faye Martins, is a Yoga teacher and a graduate of the Yoga teacher training program at: Aura Wellness Center in, Attleboro, MA. To receive Free Yoga videos, Podcasts, e-Books, reports, and articles about Yoga, please visit: http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/
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