How does yoga affect your mental health?
Anyone familiar with yoga knows it’s the perfect physical stress reliever, but what is it about yoga that calms the spirit? Yoga is like therapy, and can bring about a great release of emotional burdens.
Yoga focuses on balance, the key to overall health. While many of us tend to equate balance with posture and being able to stand on one leg, it’s actually much deeper. Yoga helps you find balance that is physical, emotional and spiritual.
We tend to hold emotional stress in certain regions of our bodies. Those who suffer may find the relief they need in a good yoga class – specific poses can provide emotional releases, as the physical aspects are connected to the chakras, points of energy in the body. Possible benefits of yoga can include:
- Lowered heart rate, blood pressure and respiration
- Reduced anxiety
- Relief from muscle tension and stress
- Mental and physical relaxation
- Increased mindfulness and mental awareness
- Alleviation of mild depression
- Lessening of fatigue and insomnia
Along with physical practices, at The Floating Lotus we encourage students to meditate and make other small changes needed for healing. Connecting with a group of encouraging and supportive people through yoga can be the perfect mental and spiritual boost. After class, we often hear students say, “That was just what I needed.”
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