Yoga, an ancient practice that originated in India, has become increasingly popular in today's busy society. For many people, yoga provides a retreat from their chaotic and busy lives. This is true whether you are practising downward dog posture on a yoga mat in your bedroom, in an ashram in India, or even in The Green Park in London. Yoga provides many mental and physical benefits. Continuing on the subject, in this blog, we share the ten benefits of yoga for the mind and body.

1. Improves Flexibility

One of the first and most obvious benefits of yoga is improved flexibility. During your first class, you probably will not be able to touch your toes, never mind doing a backbend. But if you stick with it, you will notice a gradual loosening, and eventually, seemingly impossible poses will become possible.

2. Builds Muscle Strength

Strong muscles do more than look good. They also protect us from conditions such as arthritis and back pain. And when you build strength through yoga, you balance it with flexibility.

3. Perfects Your Posture

Your head is like a bowling ball, big, round, and heavy. When it is balanced directly over an erect spine, it takes much less work for your neck and back muscles to support it. Move it several inches forward, however, and you start to strain those muscles.

4. Prevents Cartilage and Joint Breakdown

Each time you practice yoga, you take your joints through their full range of motion. This can help prevent degenerative arthritis or mitigate disability by "squeezing and soaking" areas of cartilage that normally are not used.

5. Protects Your Spine

Spinal disks are the shock absorbers between the vertebrae that can herniate and compress nerves, and crave movement. That is the only way they get their nutrients. If you have a well-balanced asana practice with plenty of backbends, forward bends, and twists, you will help keep your disks supple.

6. Betters Your Bone Health

It is well-documented that weight-bearing exercise strengthens bones and helps ward off osteoporosis. Many postures in yoga require that you lift your weight. And some, like Downward- and Upward-Facing Dog, help strengthen the arm bones, which are particularly vulnerable to osteoporotic fractures.

7. Increases Your Blood Flow

Yoga gets your blood flowing. More specifically, the relaxation exercises you learn in yoga can help your circulation, especially in your hands and feet. Yoga also gets more oxygen to your cells, which function better as a result.

8. Drains Your Lymph and Boosts Immunity

When you contract and stretch muscles, move organs around, and come in and out of yoga postures, you increase the drainage of lymph (a viscous fluid rich in immune cells). This helps the lymphatic system fight infection, destroy cancerous cells, and dispose of the toxic waste products of cellular functioning.

9. Ups Your Heart Rate

When you regularly get your heart rate into the aerobic range, you lower your risk of heart attack and can relieve depression. While not all yoga is aerobic, if you do it vigorously or take flow or Ashtanga classes, it can boost your heart rate into the aerobic range.

10. Helps You Focus

An important component of yoga is focusing on the present. Studies have found that regular yoga practice improves coordination, reaction time, memory, and even IQ scores.

Summing Up