By Rachel Ulbig

Yoga is a science that has been practiced for over five thousand years. Yoga is aimed at uniting the mind, body and the spirit. Currently over eleven million Americans enjoy Yoga’s health benefits. Yoga has been proven to help a person’s everyday health benefits, their respiratory system, circulatory system and muscular system which can make for an over all well balanced person.

People practice Yoga to improve flexibility, strength, posture, breathing, stress levels and their moods. Some people think that to practice Yoga you have to be flexible like a gymnast and that they are too old or unfit to ever practice Yoga. Yoga simply improves an individual’s flexibility with series of poses called Asanas which work safely by stretching your muscles. When a muscle stretches it releases the lactic acid that builds up with muscle use and that causes stiffness, tension, pain and fatigue. Yoga also helps increase the range of motion in the joints which will increase lubrication in the joints and make you have a sense of ease and fluidity throughout the body. Yoga not only stretches your muscles but also the soft tissues of the body which include ligaments, tendons and the fascia sheath that surrounds the muscle. In one study, practitioners saw a thirty five percent improvement in their flexibility after a short eight weeks of Yoga.

Strength is also a main reason people choose to practice Yoga. All different styles of Yoga help to build muscle tone in many different ways. Downward Dog and Plank are two poses that help a person build upper body strength which becomes very crucial as people age. The standing poses help build lower body strength and poses such as Upward Dog and Chair help strengthen the lower back which in turn helps protect the organs even more. When the Asanas are practiced correctly almost all help build core strength within the deep abdominal muscles. Strong abdominal muscles are the fundamentals for great posture. Yoga increases body awareness and with the heightened awareness you are more quick to correct slouching or slumping. Breathing is a part of your everyday life that you might not think about too much considering it comes naturally, but most Americans are chest breathers and do not use the full capacity of their lungs. With the deep and mindful breathing that yoga involves the lung capacity improves which improves sports performance and endurance.

Deepening and lengthening your breath stimulates the relaxation response which helps the fight-or-flight adrenaline boost of the stress response. Most people feel less stressed and more relaxed even after their first class. Yoga’s anti stress benefits are actually biochemical responses. With yoga there is a decrease in catecholamine which are the hormones produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress. Yoga may also lower levels of hormone neurotransmitters – dopamine, norephinephrine, and epinephrine which will create a feeling of calm. Students leave the studio feeling happier and more content which may be a result from yoga’s boosting oxygen levels to the brain. Potential benefits of yoga are still being scientifically studied, such as whether yoga can slow the aging process, increase a person’s sense of self-acceptance or improve energy. Yoga is a natural way to cure what ales you and a great way to help prevent illness such as the common cold.

One way to relax the mind and body in Yoga is through breathing which is also known as Pranayama. Breathing is a necessity in everyday life but people who develop a healthy breathing habit are said to look better, get to finish more activity and have fun, and live longer lives than others. Healthy conscious breathing reduces physical and mental fatigue, chest pains, and the risk of a heart attack. Pranyama is performed by breathing in and out only through the nose which is more beneficial than breathing through the mouth because it gives you the ability to control how much air you take in and also cleanses the air as you inhale. The common cold is a miserable time that can last anywhere from two to fourteen days. Although, yoga can not prevent the common cold it plays an important role in strengthening a person’s immune system which in turn a strong immune system will have a better chance at keeping the cold virus far away. Yoga is not all about exercising but also focuses on making a person better rounded in life by promoting a person to get enough sleep, eat healthy food, drink plenty of liquid and not use tobacco. Mild exercise such as yoga can also contribute to make the body filter out the toxins. By filtering the toxins from your body it will help you have a positive outlook in life and make it easier to relax your mind and body which will help you manage emotional and psychological stress and lessen your vulnerability to the Cold virus. As we breathe in we supply the blood with oxygen which then circulates through out the entire body giving energy and nutrients to all of the muscles.

By practicing long deep breaths, conscious relaxation, and concentration you decrease the level of stress hormones and cortisol in the blood. Asanas can also enhance the circulation of blood and body fluids in the different body parts of the body to maintain the normal functioning of the immune system which will allow the body to heal by itself. If blood flow to the organs is well kept up then we could avoid many disorders in the body. Standing poses stretch and tone the lateral wall of the heart so that there is a healthy blood flow on the walls. Inverted poses help out the lymphatic system of the legs and muscles that help in pumping the blood upward by getting rest in this position. Inverted poses also help avoid tissue degeneration because it allows proper circulation of blood in the brain. Horizontal poses help to reduce blood pressure since the heart and lungs are rested, rejuvenated and well ventilated. Bending poses can improve blood supply to the myocardium and will help tone up the cardiac muscle. A proper sequence of yoga exercises will definitely help in preventing serious complications due to restricted blood flow in the body instead of taking a lot of medications.

Hypertension which is also known as high blood pressure refers to the amount of pressure in your arteries. Hypertension has no specific symptoms and is known as the silent killer. If hypertension is not detected at and early stage it could lead to arterial cardiac and renal damage. To manage hypertension you have to manage your lifestyle and a yoga lifestyle helps treat and prevent hypertension through mind and body activities. Yoga poses may help manage Hypertension but please seek doctor’s advice before starting any Yoga practices. Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is the most common form of heart disease. Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States especially among people over the age of sixty. Most cases of CAD happen so gradually that it shows no symptoms and it usually results in death. CAD is caused by the buildup of cholesterol in the inside layers of the arteries which will slow down blood flow and the muscles will not get enough blood. Plaque also weakens the arterial wall which may lead to cracking and the formation of blood clots. Yoga improves body’s strength and flexibility which may help control blood pressure, respiration, and heart and metabolic rates. A change to the Yoga Lifestyle which includes vegetarian diet and no tobacco makes the progression of CAD slower or can make CAD patients recover much faster. Yoga also helps with stress and anxiety which are also common causes of CAD. To keep your heart in good shape and your stress under control we have to focus on the two hundred and six bones that make up our skeletal system.

The skeleton protects the softer parts of the body such as the muscles and organs. The skeleton also enables us to move, it produces blood cells in the bone marrow, acts as a store for many minerals that the body needs such as calcium and phosphorus, and gives the body its shape. Bones that make up the skeleton are living tissues that continue to grow and reshape themselves to the strains that are placed upon them. Yoga helps improve health and bring energy to the body and mind that in turn helps free all the body’s different joints which opens them up to relieve pressure on the protective cartilage and restore correct alignment of the bones. Inflammation or swelling of the joints is called Arthritis. Arthritis is from deterioration of soft tissues that cover and protect the joints. With the deterioration of the tissue the bones begin to run against each other which can cause pain. One of the causes of Arthritis is the excess of uric acid that gets deposited in the joints. Uric acid levels are higher for people who consume too much meat or alcohol.

Yoga poses can help strengthen joints which is crucial in preventing and dealing with arthritis. The spinal column is one of the most vital parts of our body because it supports the trunk and is responsible for all our posture and movements. Most people will experience back pain at some point in their lives and for some of these people this pain develops into degenerative spinal disorders. Back injuries are the number one cause of work related disability in the United States affecting both men and women of all ages. The most common back injuries are strains and sprains which are usually caused by too much stretching of the back, abrupt change in direction and colliding with another person which usually happens in sports. Some more serious back injuries include herniated disc which will cause numbness or tingling sensation in the legs and feet and muscle spasm or cramping. Osteoporosis is a back ailment that can happen without any symptoms. Osteoporosis is a result of decreased bone mass and can be due to a poor diet, smoking, excessive alcohol, lack of exercise or even hereditary. Scoliosis affects millions of people worldwide and it is an abnormal lateral curvature of the spinal column and although exercise can not stop Scoliosis alone it can help in promoting overall health and well being. The most common treatments for back pain are medication, exercise and a change in lifestyle. Physical activity such as Asanas can help strengthen and tone back muscles and the skeletal system which make your back more flexible and can alleviate pain and improve your posture.

Living a Yoga lifestyle and practicing Asanas daily have been proven to help a person better their health and to be ready for everyday obstacles in a person’s life. The above information is a brief description of how yoga can help with health benefits and everyday life such as stress, mood, body strength, flexibility, posture, and breathing. Also, briefly describes Yoga’s benefits on the Circulatory System and high blood pressure, the Respiratory System and the common cold, and the Muscles and Skeletal System and how it helps with Arthritis and Back Injuries. Yoga is not just another sport, it is a lifestyle and when you take Yoga’s lifestyle you will find all of the benefits that it has on your health as well as your everyday life.

Rachel Ulbig will soon be a Yoga teacher. She will be teaching in the Friendswood, Texas area.