5 Reasons to Practice Yoga

I'm not about to go all yogi on you, so don't worry. But I do practice yoga and I think it's a really beneficial thing to try. So I want to talk about yoga today and why you should consider attempting it. (Besides the fact that you'll learn to do cool poses you can show off.)

1. Reduces stress and anxiety

If you have a lot of problems with stress or anxiety, yoga can help a lot with that. It helps take your mind off your problems and on to strengthening your body and mind. I find that it helps me manage my anxiety a lot, especially if I do a practice specifically designed for that. Basically anything you may want can be found in a yoga practice. Hamstrings, anxiety, back, jet lag, and more.

2. Opens you up

One of the biggest benefits of yoga is that it's an excellent way to stretch and open you up. Even a fifteen minute practice can make you feel better if you've been sitting a while. The sweet spot for me is thirty to forty-five minutes, but you can experiment and see what works best for you. If you want to get more flexible and strong, then yoga is a great way to do it without being too hard.

3. Calms the mind

I never feel more zen than after a good yoga practice. If you have a lot on your mind or just feel all over the place, yoga is a great way to slow down and put all that aside. Part of the reason it calms your mind is because breathing is just as important to the practice as the movements. You never realize how nice it is to sit and breath for a minute until you're doing it. Stepping onto the mat is the perfect way to refocus your mind.

4. For all levels

When you think of yoga, often people think of doing crazy poses like headstand or crow pose. But yoga, like almost anything, has levels for everyone. From beginner to advanced, there's something for you. It's also great when you start to see yourself improve and be able to do intermediate practices instead of beginner ones. So if you think yoga is too hard for you, think again.

5. Helps increase posture, balance, strength, and more

Yoga is an easy way to improve many things in your fitness life. From balance exercises like dancers pose or half moon pose, to strengthening ones like crow or wild child, yoga has many physical benefits. It will also help you to have better posture and learn to focus your breathing. I have better balance now than I did before starting yoga, and I've always been bad at it.

I want to keep this list short, but if you want some more reasons, here are a few great articles on reasons why you should practice it. There are loads of easy, free practices on YouTube (Yoga with Adriene and Yoga with Kassandra being two of my faves), so you don't have any excuses.

21 Reasons to Do Yoga
10 Undeniable Reasons You Should be Doing Yoga 

Do you do yoga? Have you ever considered it? What's your favorite way to exercise? Tell me in the comments.

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