Benefits of a Regular Yoga Practice
5 ways yoga helps you slow down and feel better
1. Yoga gives you time for yourself
Time you spend checking in on yourself and your needs is never wasted time.
A regular yoga practice gives you the time to sit with yourself to feel and explore your mind at present. From there you have the space to work through blockages and tension.
The best part about it is that doing yoga helps you recognize what’s right for you.
Yoga allows space for the student to find their own way. It's not a one size fits all and that’s what I love about the practice. You get to take ownership and arrive at a deeper understanding of yourself in the process.
2. Yoga softens areas of tension or tightness in the body
Yoga helps you maintain an agile body and continued mobility.
One of the most important benefits of doing yoga regularly is that it keeps the disks in your spine supple — which is way more essential than say a handstand in my book!
When the disks in your spine are supple you have better posture, experience less pain, and have reduced risk of injury.
And this benefit of mobility extends beyond your spine. The strength and flexibility you develop throughout your body from your yoga practice will improve your mobility through all joints and impact every area of your life for the better.
3. Calm your mind & reset your nervous system
Yoga gives you time to be in a calm, safe space where you can fully relax and grow.
When you feel stressed and go through your day worried about all the problems you must solve, your sympathetic nervous system takes over. This part of your nervous system is your fight or flight response that takes hold and is activated for more time in you day than you think.
Yoga helps you leave that fight or flight response and lets your parasympathetic nervous system flourish instead. When this happens you shift into a mode where you can rest, digest, recover, and grow.
This is when you start to see benefits physically and mentally, such as reduced blood pressure, decrease in anxiety and stress, as well as a lift in mood!
4. Yoga helps you be intentional the time you have
As yoga helps you slow down and become more aware, it’s easier to be intentional with your time.
Even on those days that are so busy you feel like you barely have time to breathe, there are ways of slowing down and taking a few moments for yourself.
So don’t be fooled — if you only have 10 minutes to get on your mat, take it! Give yourself that time. Something is better than nothing and you’ll be surprised at how getting into your yoga practice for even 10 minutes can transform your mood for the rest of the day.
There’s not one right way to spend your time doing yoga. You can always work towards increasing your sessions in a way that works for you.
5. Svādhyāya
Svādhyāya is the sanskrit word for self-study. Self-study is how you improve and grow on and off your mat.
Yoga makes time for you to do this self-study as many of the practices are meditative in their nature. And these practices of self-study during your yoga sessions carry over into every aspect of your life.
You learn how to be open to continually deepening your own knowledge and being curious. Which really just makes everything you experience in life more fun and interesting!
To practice slowing down, here's a little heart opening Yin sequence for you to do at home. If you have a bolster or pillows to assist your comfort in the poses please do use them as you need. And let me me know in the comments how you got on!
Express Yin
Constructive rest (5mins)
Eye of the Needle (3 mins R&L)
Reclined Twist (5 mins R&L)
Dragon (3-5 mins R&L)
Swan (3-5 mins R&L)
Saddle (3-5 mins R&L)
Sphinx (3-5 mins )
Dragonfly (3-5 mins )
Butterfly (3-5 mins )
Savasana (5-10 mins)
To stay consistent with your practice, check out my yoga classes offered both in-person and online.
