9 Reasons to Embrace National Yoga Awareness Month!
To keep the momentum going from August’s Wellness Month, September arrives with additional key health topics to motivate you on your health journey. National Yoga Awareness, Healthy Aging, and Pain Awareness Month are a few health themes recognized in September. National Yoga Awareness Month raises awareness of the benefits of practicing yoga among people of all ages, throughout the world. Yoga is beneficial in the aging process and alleviating or quieting pain; combined with our discussion on wellness from last month; things should be looking up for those who have implemented our suggestions from the previous post. If you are looking for a gentle or slower pace to start on a physical activity regime, yoga may be a perfect action step to take to invigorate change in your life.
What is Yoga?
Yoga is the union of mind, body, and spirit to help relax or awaken the inner-being. Engagement in yoga can improve strength, balance, and flexibility. Yoga can be beneficial to everyone of any age, from babies to the elderly.
9 Reasons to Embrace Yoga
1) Embrace yoga outside in nature.
a) Going green is something we often emphasize here to replenish the soul. Doing so with some yoga is optimal for one’s total being. If feel stressed out, stuck or just need to calm the soul, yoga or meditation in nature is perfect to diffusing the situation and bringing tranquility in the middle of a storm. Everyone desires to experience peace and serenity every now and again.
b) Make sure to take a reusable bag, water bottle, and utensils with you to keep things zero waste while visiting in nature. If everyone will do their part we can live in a much cleaner world to participate in our yoga or any physical activity every day.
2) Decrease blood pressure
a) Yoga is so divine, it not only helps one avoid being diagnosed as hypertensive, it also helps relieve stress that usually causes the blood pressure to rise in the first place. Heart disease is the #1 killer in America, let’s keep it at bay from you by investing in some yoga poses, meditation, and mindset shifts.
3) Improve circulation
a) Yoga increases blood flow and the movement of food throughout the body. This also makes yoga helpful with digestion. Food digest easier. Not to mention, toxins are released faster too.
4) Reduce stress
a) Stress is unavoidable, however, practicing yoga is a great way to conquer it as best as you can without severe consequences like melt down.
5) Be/Stay lean
a) The practice of yoga can lead to a lean, sleeker, tighter body. In yoga you use your body weight as resistance to challenge yourself in various body movements or poses, therefore weights are not necessary to get a strong, toned body with amazing looking muscles.
b) There are really no rules for when, or how often or long one should practice, so be gentle with yourself. Start slowly and build by being as consistent as possible within your schedule until you feel comfortable in advancing. Vinyasa, followed by Bikram and Ashtanga are a few styles of yoga’s that those who are seeking lean muscles engage in.
6) Reduce pain and inflammation
a) Yoga that is apart of ones every day routine has been known to relieve pain and reduce or eliminate inflammation. Those that have experienced such results have been involved in the practice for at 90 to 180 days.
7) Aging
a) Yoga can slow down and even reverse the harmful effects of accelerated aging and stress on the body and mind. The reduction of anxiety and stress, an improved circulatory system, movement and relaxation of one’s total being is helpful in slowing down the aging process.
8) Focus
a) Yoga helps to quiet the mind, therefore leaving room for ample concentration that can keep one focus throughout their day. Yoga is a time to get silent and go within so that intuition can be heightened. When one is in a pose, holding it, it is quite hard to not be focused, lack of it will cause one to fall over. The focus it takes to hold a pose, trains the mind to stay focused on achieving a task.
9) Flexibility
a) Yoga improves range of motion, which allows one to move further and feel better. As time passes within the yoga practice, those who could not reach their toes can do so, those who wants to do the split can do it. Continuous participation in yoga allows the total body and joints to move more freely and helps avoids tightness, allowing one to be more flexible.
Yoga Awareness month is about becoming conscious of the many health benefits that one can achieve by incorporating the practice of yoga into one’s life. Yoga unifies the mind, body, and spirit in one activity. It allows people to feel calm and peaceful as they walk through life on their job, in their home, or wherever they may be. Yoga can be used by the young and old, the injured, disabled, the fat, the thin, and the results can be achieved or noticed rather quickly when one is mindful. Engage, embrace the beauty of yoga this month and if you like it everyone after this one. Visit our E-store to pick up some yoga products such as: earrings, socks, or a massage roller to roll away any pain or to help with your stretches. This month take good care of your self and remember to go within and listen to what is being said.