5 BENEFITS OF PRACTICING YOGA

First off, what is yoga? Yoga is a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practised for health and relaxation.

Taking 10 minutes out of your day to practice yoga can bring you so many benefits, like changing your brain chemistry & improving your mood. Here are 5 reasons why practicing yoga is worth your time:

Improve flexibility, strength & posture

Daily yoga practice will help to stretch & tone your muscles. It’s a full-body workout that incorporates static holds and dynamic movements. Poses such as the plank will simultaneously work your arms, legs & core all at the same time, which helps build functional strength in areas where you really need it!

Better all-round fitness

Yoga gives you the benefit of working out in a peaceful, safe and holistic way. It combines aspects of functional  strength training as well as cardio all in one! Better yet, this workout can be done in the space of your own home, at your own pace.

Weight loss

Even less vigorous styles of yoga can help you burn calories & control your weight by reducing stress, providing a heightened sense of self-esteem & bringing mindfulness to your eating habits. It can also help to restore the hormonal balance in your body, which can normalise your body weight.

Increase your energy

Yoga will provide that much-needed boost of energy in our busy lives by awakening the main energy centres in our body (our chakras). Poses that give us extra energy include the tree pose & cobra pose, allowing energy to circulate throughout the whole body.

Reduce stress

It’s been shown that yoga is an amazing stress buster. By practicing yoga, encourages relaxation & lowers the levels of the stress hormone. If the three elements of yoga are practiced regularly; poses, breathing & meditation, our heart-rate variability becomes easier to regulate, giving the body the ability to respond to stress in a more flexible way.

Many of the benefits of yoga stem from the ability to unplug and focus on what’s going on in your body and in your life right now. Happiness can only be found here and now.

Find out which yoga classes are available at your Crunch Fitness gym by checking the timetable here.

IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH & FITNESS PLAN AT CRUNCH FITNESS

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Get in touch with one of our friendly Crunch staff members today to book a personal training session.