Practicing yoga occasionally or assiduous brings many benefits. For its work on the body and the mind, this sporting activity has also become one of the favorites of the French (there are nearly two million followers to date in France). So yoga isn’t just a fad?
5 benefits for the body
Improve your flexibility
” The practice of yoga through postures improves the elasticity of the muscles: their strength yes, but above all their flexibility” explains Pia, By linking the different movements (from downward facing dog to chaturanga), we discover that it It is possible to acquire this hitherto non-existent quality or to improve it. The yogi expert adds: ” This is an essential thing to keep up with on a daily basis and reduce apparent pain or avoid their appearance” . It’s up to you with your palms glued to the ground, legs stretched out!
Boost your tone
Who has never admired their yoga teacher for her sublime and muscular figure? Scoop: you can get the same thing! With sheathing exercises and very specific postures (such as twists or inversions), you will easily strengthen your tone in a few lessons. From head to toe, the body will be more muscular and the skin will look lifted. If you thought yoga was just a relaxing activity… here’s something to change your mind on the matter.
Losing weight
In the book Yoga to lose weight and learn to love yourself (by Kym Thiriot, Ellebore editions), the author explains that certain sequences of postures make it possible to work in depth on the stomach and lead to weight loss. But that’s not all. If practiced diligently, yoga can have a real effect on your digestion (breathing exercises), on water retention (inversion techniques) and on your food urges (meditation and concentration)… In short, it acts on all the elements that often lead to weight gain.
Learn to breathe better
Breathing is the essential basis of all yoga classes (of any genre!). Pia Le Cannu explains why this work should not be neglected: “To become aware of your breathing, to lengthen it, to suspend it, to modulate it, is to learn a whole lot of exercises that you can take with you at any time. moment of our life to calm down. Breathing well is to ensure a more balanced behavior, better nights, better relationships, better shape…it changes your life!” . Coming out of a yoga class, you will therefore be able to manage all kinds of events simply thanks to a more conscious inhalation and exhalation.
Treat your back pain and strengthen your balance
Aurélie is convinced: ” The practice of yoga in general is excellent against back pain, scoliosis and herniated discs. You learn to listen to yourself to better manage your pain and learn to live with it”. All this back work involves learning to balance. By strengthening this quality, we build up our back muscles… a real virtuous circle for the body!
5 benefits for the mind
Have more self-confidence
Head held high in all situations! Doing yoga makes you feel proud of yourself. By succeeding in more or less difficult postures, you will feel real satisfaction: you are able to do more than you thought! On a daily basis, this feeling will follow you to see you restore confidence in more “mundane” situations. Breath work can also help you gently reboost your ego.
Stop stressing
” Yoga is a great way to relieve stress. As a teacher, I hear it more and more from my students: tensions escape more quickly. Whether it’s with a stretch, or a posture or even a simple breathing exercise, a general calm is felt very quickly after the effort” explains Aurélie. In a life where the slightest professional or sentimental annoyance can put us in a state of intense annoyance… the practice of yoga is to be seriously considered! It is not for nothing that this sporting activity is called “Zen”.
Improve your concentration… and your memory
Our two reference teachers agree: concentration improves as the sessions progress. Aurélie explains it: ” We shift the concentration of our mind to something more pleasant for him, something softer and which just helps us to live in the present moment” . An opinion that Pia fully shares: ” Practicing yoga is also taking time for yourself, without your phone, without having to respond to the outside world. At the same time, you rely on the teacher – who guides the course – and we explore its movements and sensations”. But that’s not all, according to a study conducted by Harris Eyre, yoga would significantly improve visual and spatial memory.
Get better quality sleep
Each type of yoga can have its benefits for your body. And there is one that specifically improves your quality of sleep. Yoga Nidra is indeed a powerful relaxation technique that allows you to get rid of all physical and mental annoyances. Between two states of consciousness (neither really asleep, nor really awake), we learn to relax all our muscles to enter a sleep phase more easily. A test for insomniacs!
Be cheerful
Pia is full of praise for the practice of yoga and she wants everyone to understand that there are many forms of satisfaction in such learning: ” achieving a posture that seemed impossible to us, letting go -even for a minute- a question that torments us, feel the emotions that we prevent ourselves from feeling during the day, find a teacher that we appreciate, close our eyes, fall asleep in savasana… By being better with yourself even after the course, you are also better off with the world”. To be in a good mood all year round, don’t hesitate to do a few movements when you wake up, go on a weekend yoga retreat or subscribe to a room!