Benefits for all school Children
Due to budget cuts in education, many schools do
not even offer gym class putting our students, teachers and our country’s
future at risk. Many physical education classes and extra-curricular activities
haven been eliminated. Without the opportunity to exercise and relieve
stress, many students academic success could result in failure.
Yoga’s well-known perks
- Improve behaviors and self-discipline
- Decrease anxiety and depression
- Increase ability to focus and remain attentive
- Assist in weight management
- Boost self-esteem and confidence
- Improve overall health, well-being and
mental function
The top 10 reasons we all should
practice yoga:
1. Stress relief
Practicing yoga reduces the physical and mental
effects of stress on the body. Yoga aids in lowering the stress hormone
cortisol. Related benefits include lowered blood pressure and heart rate,
improved digestion, boosted immune system, decreased anxiety, fatigue,
depression and insomnia.
2. Decreased pain
Yoga eases pain. Studies have shown that
practicing yoga asana (postures), meditation or both can greatly reduce pain
for people with chronic conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, as well
as arthritis, back and neck pain, and other chronic conditions. I
personally know firsthand that yoga can greatly help with easing emotional pain.
3. Improved
breathing
Yoga teaches us to take deeper, slower breaths.
Proper breathing helps improve lung function, trigger the body’s relaxation
response and increase the amount of oxygen available to the body.
4. Flexibility
Yoga helps to improve flexibility, mobility,
increasing range of motion and reduces aches and pains. Gradually they begin to
use the correct muscles. Over time and practice, the ligaments, tendons and
muscles lengthen, increasing elasticity, making more poses possible. Those
students who could not touch their toes during their first class are able to
reach down with greater ease. Yoga also helps to improve body alignment
resulting in better posture and helping to relieve back, neck, and joint
and muscle problems.
5. Increased
strength
Asana use every muscle in the body leading to
increased strength and decrease muscular tension.
6. Weight
management
Even less vigorous styles of yoga can assist with
weight by reducing the cortisol levels at the same time burning excess calories
and reducing stress. Yoga also encourages healthy eating habits and lifestyle
and helps to improve an increased sense of well-being and self-esteem.
7. Improved
circulation
As a result of a variety of asana, yoga helps to
improve circulation resulting in more efficiently moving oxygenated blood cells.
8.
Cardiovascular conditioning
Even a gentle yoga practice can provide some
cardiovascular benefits by lowering resting heart rate, increasing endurance
and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.
9. In the moment
Yoga teaches us to focus on the present, to become
more aware of where we are that minute helping to create mind-body health.
Improved focus and concentration paves the way to improved
concentration, coordination, reaction time and memory.
10. Inner peace
Through asana and the meditation yoga helps many
yogis reach a deeper, more spiritual and content place in their lives.
