[readolog_dropcap ]O[/readolog_dropcap]ne of the best exercise modalities that I ever decided to start pursuing in a group setting was Yoga. Besides weight training, I would consider Yoga one of the most valuable forms of physical expression that I had ever practiced up until that point for a few reasons.

The first was that Yoga taught me to really feel and realize how much tension my body was holding, and how to get my body to consciously lengthen and relax through the poses. In other words I really learned how to stretch properly.

Most people believe that Yoga and strength training with weights do not go hand-in-hand, and some instructors are even biased towards the other modality. But in my opinion, both of these forms of exercise balance each other out extremely well.  Weight training gives you the base of strength that you need to have stability and structure throughout life, and yoga will give you the flexibility and flow to be adaptable and prevent the body from getting too rigid or tight.

The first time I ever did yoga I was so tense from a few years of weight training that I was dripping bullets of sweat everywhere, I remember thinking after holding down-dog and going back and forth between cobra and holding high lunges, that this was the hardest thing I had ever done. But it was only because I was so tense.  After a few weeks of doing yoga for just an hour three times a week my flexibility had improved so greatly and my mental focus had improved exponentially.

Here is what some professionals are currently discovering about the potential benefits of yoga:

The following information is from the yogahealthfoundation.org

“Chronic Backpain

When doctors at the HMO Group Health Cooperative in Seattle pitted 12 weekly sessions of yoga against therapeutic exercises and a handbook on self-care, they discovered the yoga group not only showed greater improvement but experienced benefits lasting 14 weeks longer. A note of caution: “While many poses are helpful, seated postures or extreme movement in one direction can make back pain worse,” says Gary Kraftsow, author of Yoga for Wellness, who designed the program for the study.

Depression

Low brain levels of the neurotransmitter GABA are often found in people with depression; SSRIs, electroconvulsive therapy, and now yoga, it seems, can boost GABA. Preliminary research out of the Boston University School of Medicine and Harvard’s McLean Hospital found that healthy subjects who practiced yoga for one hour had a 27 percent increase in levels of GABA compared with a control group that simply sat and read for an hour. This supports a growing body of research that’s proving yoga can significantly improve mood and reduce the symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Breathing

The role of yoga breathing exercises, as an adjunct treatment for bronchial asthma is well recognized. One hundred twenty patients of asthma were randomized into two groups i.e Group A (yoga training group) and Group B (control group). Each group included sixty patients. Pulmonary function tests were performed on all the patients at baseline, after 4 weeks and then after 8 weeks. Majority of the subjects in the two groups had mild disease (34 patients in Group A and 32 in Group B). Group A subjects showed a statistically significant increasing trend in % predicted peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), forced mid expiratory flow in 0.25-0.75 seconds (FEF25-75) and FEV1/FVC% ratio at 4 weeks and 8 weeks as compared to Group B. Thus, yoga breathing exercises used adjunctively with standard pharmacological treatment significantly improves pulmonary functions in patients with bronchial asthma. Read more here.“

I would like to take the time to briefly describe the benefits of yoga as well, from my personal experience.

1. Yoga changes how you breathe, if you change how you breathe, you will improve how every single system in your body functions. Your breath is your rhythm and your flow. How we breathe throughout exercise and daily activities directly determines how our body responds to stress.  Many of us have a faulty breathing pattern to begin with due to chronic tension; yoga when taught properly is an exercise modality that should focus on the breath more than ANYTHING else.  The safety and efficacy of certain poses is nearly entirely dependent upon how that person is breathing.  For example if someone is in a twist pose they are much more likely to strain the spine, in a way that could be avoided, than if they just let deep belly breathing dictate how far they go into the pose.  Breathing deeply rids tension from the belly and chest and pumps the body with blood, oxygen, water, and other nutrients.
2. Less stress. Yoga offers a unique chance to get into our muscular system and find where the nervous system is holding on to excess tension. Yoga also offers us a uniquely spiritual practice in the sense that we are expressing ourselves with poses, but we are always also going inwards through these poses.  Our breathing and how we respond to the tension during our yoga practice will determine how well we let go of this tension and stress.
3. Improved flexibility. Yoga improves flexibility greatly by teaching us how to use techniques such as reciprocal inhibition, which actually teaches our nervous system how to stretch and loosen certain muscles by also contracting the opposing muscle group. For example when you are doing a forward fold we can learn to increase the stretch felt on the hamstrings/calves by contracting the quadriceps muscles, which are the antagonist muscles.  Through coordination with the nervous system we can allow our fascia to relax and stretch, the fascia is the connective tissue that connects our entire body’s individual muscles through a connective sheath.  Fascia naturally tightens up over time and develops “knots” in the tissue, over time we need to re-hydrate and lengthen this tissue to restore normal tissue function and allow the muscles to stretch properly through a proper range of motion.  This is why stretching in yoga is so beneficial, we can stimulate the fascia by sending water, blood, oxygen, and other nutrients into tight areas of our body, through deep breathing we are also pumping the body and this cleans out the waste that you will be breaking up when you stretch dehydrated and tight connective tissue. Over time, the increase in range of motion and your tissue structure can lead to a much lower level of chronic tension throughout the entire body.  The effects of this can mean less stress, less stiffness, and overall improved well-being.

4. Mental health and focus. Yoga improves mental health and focus not only through the physical means mentioned above, but also through allowing the physical release of emotional stressors. Deep stretching along with deep breathing and releasing tension, often also releases trapped emotional or psychological traumas.  Whenever we go through a stressful period in our lives emotionally, the body will also respond as well.  For example lets say that during a stressful breakup you held on to a ton of physical tension in your stomach and low back, or you are stressed at work and have an ulcer.  This could be stemming from the limbic system at its source.  Not all problems are solely physical.  When deeply breathing and stretching during yoga you also learn the importance of mindfulness and going deeper and deeper into the pose.

One of my favorite queues is to stop thinking, just be in the pose. When you develop this skill of focus and mindfulness you can allow your body to just express itself, as it wants to be, and stop judging it.  You begin to stop thinking about the fact that you cannot do a pose, or that you will not be able to hold it for that long, you simply let go and can just be in the pose.  This is a beautiful thing, to express oneself physically without a single judgment or thought on that physical expression.  Society forces us to conform and suppress ourselves physically all the time, yoga can be a time that through deep stretching and deep breathing that you get in touch with your emotional centers and Chakras again.  This has been known for thousands of years amongst ancient yogis and practitioners.  Yoga allows you to heal from emotional trauma and let go of the physical tension that is just a RESULT of that trauma, this skill is imperative for developing better mental health and clarity.

Do not judge how your body responds to yoga or what thoughts you have when going inward towards your tension and body. The emotional centers and tension you are tapping in to could have been there for a very long time, if you need to cry, than cry, if you need to go deeper in to the pose, do not be afraid to go deeper into it. You have to be able to adapt your practice for how your body wishes to express itself in THAT moment, and that is why yoga is so good for mental health and focus.

A study was done on the benefits of yoga for breast cancer survivors, and it more or less found that yoga improved vitality and lowered fatigue, AND the results were cumulative. The more women did the yoga, the better results they had.  The women who did not do yoga did not experience the benefits of improved vitality and fatigue.  This is just a small window into what the benefits of the cumulative effects of building a relationship with your body can have after a traumatic experience.

5. Yoga will allow you to develop improved strength and stability and can improve sports performance. Many of the poses involve holding isometric positions for an extended period of time while also breathing deeply. Just holding different poses and stabilizing the core and breath will develop a toned and strong body over time.  The added flexibility also develops a functional strength that will translate over very well to other forms of exercise and assist you in daily activities.  If you are an athlete or even just a weekend warrior or regular weight lifter, yoga will GREATLY improve your performance if you find that flexibility is a limiting factor for certain movements.
6. Yoga gives us a chance to come together in a group setting and create an extremely potent and high vibrational frequency of energy that is very restorative and healing in nature. When a group of people comes together to perform poses and express themselves physically in coordination with each other, it creates a very high vibrational frequency of the groups’ collective energy. When a group of people is just letting go, being mindful, and focusing on their body, it creates a very unique and rare opportunity to tap into a very healing and positive energy.  Our bodies are like antennas and we are always picking up vibrations from those around us, yoga offers an environment that is about letting go of judgment and is uniquely individual, yet when done in a group setting it allows us to be a part of a whole.

As humans we are always influenced by the environment, and you will notice that on different days, weeks, and seasons, the collective energy of your yoga class changes, that is ok, do not judge it, just enjoy experiencing it. Always go to yoga with a positive intention in mind and realize that the people around you are there experiencing life right alongside of you, this gives you a beautiful opportunity to extend gratitude and appreciate the beauty of having a body and the ability to connect!  Yoga often ends with a brief period of meditation where you can really tap into the collective energy that has been built up over the class time, it is very important that you clear your body and head and absorb as much of this healing energy as you can.  If you have the chance to attend a group yoga class in a relaxing setting with a good instructor I would highly recommend it.

7. Yoga can undo the damage and dysfunction caused from excessive repetitive motions and show you what stretches/poses YOUR body needs. If you have a job that requires you to sit or bend over and over, your body will develop rigid muscles and dysfunctional connective tissue. Yoga offers a unique chance to learn what type of poses that YOUR body needs specifically to counter the effects of these repetitive activities. We are all as different on the inside as we are on the outside and Yoga offers us a chance to find out what poses we really require on a daily basis. For example my long body requires me to stretch my glutes often because they get tight very quickly from sitting or driving, even for short periods of time. I love the pigeon pose and do it every single day, I also do lunge stretches and extensions on a daily basis.  Yoga will teach you the best way to undo the stress and tightness caused from repetitive movements and allow you to develop a relationship with YOUR body.
8. Yoga makes it easier to let go and move on. Once you know which stretches that your own UNIQUE body needs, you can do them on a daily basis. Once you learn how to open up the hips or let go of the tension in your belly, or breathe through your low-back stiffness, you will learn to let go of tension much easier.  Yoga makes you more adaptable and allows you to flow better in life.  We are always gaining the tension we released back, but then we must learn to release it again.  We become charged up, and then we must discharge this energy.  Yoga is a great modality for a culture that is very YANG orientated and does not know how to restore itself properly.  During periods of stress or challenges in my life, I will often turn to yoga to allow me to get into touch with my body, and heal the tension I have gained up until that point, even if it is just for a few minutes of stretching. Our bodies are the vessel that we navigate this life with and we must learn how to properly heal and let go of tension, whether it is caused from physical or emotional trauma or a combination of both.  If you find yourself stuck in a rut or unsure of yourself, try practicing yoga and doing some deep stretching. Going inwards and feeling what my body needs and where I am holding tension has never led me wrong, and I promise that it will greatly benefit you as well.

Yoga is an ancient practice with poses that really work by placing our bodies into anatomical positions that allow for energy to flow optimally. When energy flows throughout your body more effectively you will not become blocked up as easily emotionally, you will be more adaptable to stressors and challenges, and you will develop more empathy and love. The ability for a loose, strong, and focused person to connect to others is much higher than someone who is rigid, weak, and stressed.

[readolog_blockquote ]simply BREATHE.[/readolog_blockquote]

I use the word “energy” simply as a symbol for all of the benefits that you will get from yoga. If this makes your body respond oddly, or you do not wish to believe that we are spiritual beings with emotional centers that flow throughout the body that can be affected physically than that is perfectly ok.  You just have not gotten in touch with yourself enough yet to realize that this is true.  All I ask is that if you respond negatively to the idea of emotional trauma and energy being released physically, is that you observe where in your body you are getting this reaction, and simply BREATHE.

We have a life-force flowing through us that we can break down and examine all we want, whether we want to examine how well oxygen flows to our organs, or how the blood moves, or how big our muscles are, these are all just examples and the outward expression of our physical being. Our life-force and vital energy is extremely important to cultivate and this requires us to become one with our bodies.

In a culture that values studies, science, and research, more than intuition, we end up with people who are literally living in their minds and cut off from the rest of their bodies. This is not in alignment with the principal of oneness.  We need to be one WHOLE complete HUMAN BEING.  This means that we must acknowledge the emotional centers in our being, along with the physical trauma and tension we will experience just from navigating through life with our vessel, which is our bodies.  We only have one body and physical expression of the soul, and it can tell us a lot about an individual, but the more important thing to take away from that is that we must cultivate this relationship.

[readolog_blockquote ]Ignoring the body will always lead to dysfunction and instability, but listening to the body and teaching it how to flow better through a practice like Yoga will lead to strength and a much better flow throughout life.[/readolog_blockquote]

As I said before yoga puts our bodies into mathematically functional positions that encourage energy to flow optimally and every single human on this planet should be able to perform these poses with some degree of efficacy. Anything less will result in someone who is not as balanced or functional as they could be.

Do more yoga with others to develop your physical, mental, and spiritual strength, and then become the best human being that you can be. You do not need to do yoga every day, or even every week, but you should be familiar with the practice so that your relationship with your body can thrive.