Yoga can help balance your life in a number of ways

Guest Commentary:

I like to think of my life as a hiking trail. I will see beautiful things, I will hear scary noises, I will trip over some stumps, I will exert myself, I will feel calm, I will smile and laugh and cry and become irritated at times. The trail isn’t easy, but it’s always beautiful. 

Nothing in life is super easy, but what happens is after we trip all we can think about is the scrape. We forget about the birds and the flowers and the love. Yoga helps us access life’s abundance; it’s that simple. People who don’t practice yoga might not realize there is much more to it than body contortions and looking within. Yoga is not just reserved for tofu-eating hippies and acrobats. That’s why today I’d like to outline for you lovely readers all the major benefits anyone can get from practicing yoga — including beginners and veteran yogis — as well as how you can easily incorporate them into your life.

Stress Relief. Yoga literally means “union.” More specifically, yoga refers to the relationship between your body and your mind, and anyone who’s been to a yoga class knows how much emphasis is put onto clearing the mind and focusing on the present moment. 

Yoga is a tool that allows us to relax and combat stress and anxiety by letting go (if only temporarily) of worries. When I’m feeling particularly stressed or anxious about something, I immediately feel a physical change after just 20 minutes of yoga.

Endurance. It may seem like a stretch (pun intended), but all the stationary poses employed in yoga can actually have an immense impact on your endurance. This is because yoga emphasizes awareness of the breath at all times. 

Your breath moves you from one posture to the next, and helps keep you focused and balanced throughout your practice. This awareness translates to other activities as well. As a long distance runner, practicing yoga has totally transformed the way I breathe while running. 

Patience. If there’s one thing you need to get into crow pose (if you don’t know what that is, you’ll get there) or any other challenging yoga pose, it’s patience. When many people take up yoga for the first time — particularly athletes — they still have the mentality of pushing themselves to get to the most advanced position possible. 

While it’s good to strive toward a goal, yoga is about knowing the limits of your body and working within them while you improve. Having the patience to master the basics of a pose before moving into trickier variations will also invite this mindset into the rest of your life as well, allowing you to stay cool and collected in the face of a challenge or fear.

Detox. The poses you do in yoga can actually stimulate your organs (namely the kidneys and liver) and activate your natural detoxification processes. Any simple twist posture will help with this; while any type of dynamic yoga helps increase the flow of oxygenated blood to the organs and leaves you feeling cleansed and happier.

Strength. Relaxation may be a major component of yoga, but you’re fooling yourself if you think that means it’s easy. Many of the more advanced poses activate several muscle groups at once, while balance poses require great upper body and core strength. Yoga will help build and tone lean muscles and burn fat just like any other fitness routine.

Balance. Literally speaking, yoga incorporates tons of balance postures. From standing on one leg to headstands to even balancing on one hand, your stability will, without a doubt, be challenged. But yoga also encourages balance in other aspects of your life as well. Besides bringing mental clarity to help deal with the balance of stress, yoga can physically balance your hormones by bringing your endocrine system into equilibrium.

Flexibility. This may seem like a no-brainer, but the stretches in postures incorporated in yoga will lead to much improved flexibility. Flexibility is proven to minimize the risk of injury and to improve training in athletes of all sports. As we age, our flexibility is one of the first things to deteriorate if we do not constantly work on it. Make it a rule that you must stretch your body everyday, whether in class or at home.

Confidence. Finally, yoga can dramatically help build confidence through self awareness. Yoga is non-competitive by nature, so the only opponent you have is yourself. By testing your own bodily limits and boundaries, you really get to know what you are capable of, and you can watch yourself improve and exceed goals over time. Seeing these improvements in yourself naturally increases self confidence which in return makes you feel happier.

I am not saying yoga is the answer to all of life’s questions, but I know how it saved me, and I see the hundreds of people in our community that are thriving since they started practicing. The great thing is you can do it too. 

Cultivate a willingness to learn and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Try yoga just once a week for a month, and I guarantee you’ll learn new things about yourself and your abilities, and perhaps even find that inner peace you’ve been looking for. See www.findyourlightyoga.com for class schedules and descriptions. Sending you love. Can’t wait to practice with you.

Danielle Spillman is a certified yoga teacher, health enthusiast, and writer. You can find more of her musings at www.findyourlightyoga.com.