The Good Yoga Guide

Yoga is principally a spiritual discipline. It was basically designed to be a form of discipline which took the practitioner towards a unity of the soul with god.

However yoga is now extremely popular and not everyone is practicing yoga for it's spiritual benefits. There are also many health benefits as well.

First and foremost yoga will help keep your body supple, or flexible. It is an extremely effective form of stretching and works just as well as some of the more mainstream stretching exercises.

However the research shows much more benefit to the body from yoga than just flexibility. It has been shown that yoga can help with a wide range of physical ailments ranging from weight control to lower back pain, insomnia and even heart disease.

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found in a study of around 15000 adults that over a 10 year period those who did not practice yoga gained on average around 18 pounds more than those who did, provided that they had practiced the discipline for some time, over 4 years.

Other studies have also backed up the effectiveness of yoga as a preventative for weight gain. Of course it is necessary to observe other weight control measures such as sensible eating, even yoga will not keep weight off for someone who overeats, but it certainly has a preventative effect.

A study by the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California found that people who are a balanced diet and who also practiced yoga as well as meditation, and who exercised lost more weight than those people who did all of this but who did not practice the yoga.

And as previously mentioned yoga can improve flexibility. This can include improving the range of movement in the joints. Studies suggest that yoga can increase lower back flexibility and decrease lower back pain.

Yoga is a spiritual and adherents report a range of spiritual and emotional benefits including relaxation and improvement of the mind and emotions. It has also been reported to improve sleep for those who experience some problems finding good sleeping habits.

The practice of meditation together with the yoga seems to add to the benefits.

Practicing the discipline of yoga breathing can help lower heart rate and control and calm the more nervous amongst us. It has also been reported to improve or alleviate some emotional or mental conditions such as anxiety or depression.

It is clear that there can be some improvements in both physical and mental health amongst those who practice the disciplien of yoga.

For those who have specific medical conditions, either mental or physical, it is still essential to visit a health professional. Yoga should not be undertaken as a treatment for specific health problems, or at least not until after a visit to a suitably qualified professional. But in the correct circumstances it is well worth taking up yoga, both for your general health and wellbeing, as well as for improving some specific problems.

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