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Yoga is probably one of the most popular trends in fitness, and with good reason. Yoga is a low-impact workout that is effective at building core strength while also promoting flexibility. But, is yoga still worth your time? Here are 5 reasons why yoga is still good for you:

Yoga improves your physical and mental health

The practice of yoga dates back to the 5th century BC and originated in India as a form of physical exercise. Yoga combines exercise, breathing techniques, meditation and postures with a focus on aligning the body. Because yoga can strengthen your mind as well as your body, it is beneficial in areas including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stress, depression and other diseases.

Yoga improves flexibility and balance

Yoga is not just for calming your mind. It also improves flexibility and balance. It can help: relieve back pain, prevent injuries and can help prevent future back pain. This is because yoga uses a series of poses meant to strengthen and relax muscles. Yoga uses deep breathing, meditation and stretching to help the body become more flexible and balanced.

Yoga trains your body, improves posture and builds strength

Many people have been practising yoga for decades. Those who practice yoga often live healthier lives. Research even indicates that yoga can reduce the risk of osteoporosis by up to 40 percent. How does this work? Doing yoga keeps muscles strong and flexible, because it trains them to change as you work through the many different moves in a yoga programme. The different yoga positions gently encourage your body to move into correct form (posture). The repetition trains your body to naturally default to this improved state.

Yoga improves focus and calms your mind

With yoga being an ancient healing practice from India, it’s not only beneficial for physical health, it can nourish the mind and soul as well. Yoga offers several physiological and psychological benefits, including increased immunity, better sleep, and an overall sense of peace. The practice of focussing the mind on your body while you hold different yoga poses, trains your mind for better concentration and focus. This improved focus is translated into other areas of life as well.

Yoga reduces stress

Yoga is also a type of meditation as well as a physical exercise. For this reason yoga is great at relieving stress. The basics of yoga include breathing techniques, internal focus and postures which stretch the body and calm the mind, quickly relieving stress. Regular practice of yoga has also shown to help people be less receptive to stress and better equipped to cope with difficult situations, much in the same way as mindfulness does.

In conclusion, yoga teaches you how to work with, rather than against, your mind and body. As we age, we can be tempted to give up our healthy habits, but yoga teaches us that our bodies can flourish at any age. Even if you are an avid sports person or someone who exercises regularly, yoga is a great complementary activity to running, biking, hiking and swimming. The great thing about Yoga is it has its own energy and emotion that aren’t always to be found in other sports and activities.

If you practice yoga regularly or are considering getting into it, we stock a range of yoga wear which will be a great for keeping you cool and comfy during your favourite yoga routine.