The Benefits of Yoga (at least for me, a beginner Yogis)

Well, I’m not a hard core yogis (yet) but I do enjoy the benefit of doing yoga. 

So far I do yoga once or twice a week.

and here’s the list of benefits that I’ve enjoyed so far:

•  Build up the stamina. 

Like any other exercise, be it cardio exercise such as jogging, aerobics, and swimming or even doing a simple stretching makes me alert and help to build my stamina up throughout the day. Especially in the recent hot and humid weather of Singapore, makes me feel so lethargic and sluggish with sweat (especially in the armpit area opssiee) all over the body. 

I really love summer but minus the humidity, please.

• Build and Tone up muscle. 

Some of the pose seems easy peasy to do, but don’t be fooled! 

It’s also extremely challenging and play big part to exercise our core muscle (like using abdominal strength and arm strength) . For instance, plank pose and side plank pose seems easy for me but when I do it for a straight one minute or two, (try it, challenge yourself!) OMG I'm dying to the max coz its really need to depend on hand/ shoulder/ core muscle strength!

Side note, What can I say, well.... I’m still in the progress of mastering downward dog and find it so challenging to straighten both parts of my body. 

Hi yogis, any advice? The problem is, if I manage to straighten my back then my leg will bend automatically. and then, if I manage to straighten my leg (and bring my heels to the floor) then my back will automatically curve. Arrghh!!!! why can’t I straighten both!? "-_-"

• Feeling so “Zen”.

I don’t know about you, but when I go gym, I found myself eating a lot of rubbish like burger or maybe a bowl of rice or any kind of carbs after gym session. I know it’s practically not good, especially for those who want to lose weight. But I don’t care, I feel like I’ve already done my part to do “hardwork” during gym session, so it’s time to pay off those “hardwork.” You know what I mean!?

But when I do yoga, the “Zen” or I can say, the consciousness feels so strong after yoga session. 

Yoga practices mind-clarity and control of what I put on my body. including what I eat. And I want to keep it that way as long as possible. So I can tell, after yoga session, I found myself craving for healthy food such as fruits or salad (minus the dressing), and I am satisfied. J

Not only that, I found myself to easily stick to the healthy sleeping pattern. it’s easy to maintain a good quality of 8 hours sleep nowadays. I'm not too sure though...could it be from exhausted body after yoga session? Or again, could it be from a mind clarity of knowing that sleeping is good for my body, and I want to maintain those healthy lifestyle (sleeping as early as 10pm) as possible? J

• More flexible.

They said:

"The more flexible you are, the healthier body you'll get."

"The longer you stretch your spine, the better stamina you'll get."

Again, "The longer you’re breathing, the longer your lifespan, too."

Well, I’m not too sure about this hearsay, but I believe in some ways of yoga practices, such as meditation and breathing techniques, contributed its benefit to our life.

What I can feel, is that, the longer breath that I can breathe, the more relaxation I will be. Moreover, it also somehow brings me to be more conscious about myself and to my surrounding.

Additionally, achieving flexibility is a progression thing as someone’s flexibility differs from one to another. 

So my advice is, don’t compare yourself and try to listen to your own body. 

Yoga should be forms of relaxation so don’t push your body too hard or you might risk of injuring yourself. It’s ok if your body cannot be bent like pretzel, just do pose comfortably. As time goes by, you will find yourself mastering certain pose (keep practising! It’s like telling me, one day, I can master downward dog so now I have to keep on practising! hehe) 

• Feeling good.

Okie this point still has correlation with point no 3.

Overall it’s because I feel more “Zen” due to the healthy lifestyle.

Eating well, sleeping well. More clear and clarity of mind. And I want to keep it that way!

It’s like over dosage of endorphin hormone from the inside out. As a result, I found myself more and more positive each day, and its impacted on my behaviour to the surrounding people.

Beauty is in the eyes of beholder but when someone’s happy from inside out, the beauty of her heart will reflect in her behaviour, agree?

So...practising yoga, is really benefiting to my life. 

Where have you been, yoga , after all my 26 years of life!? I should've found you earlier :-)

-Deb-