I started doing yoga as a way to help me cope with the passing of my father and to manage daily stress.  Now almost ten years later, yoga has changed my body, my way of thinking, and my life.

The benefits of yoga are almost immediate. After 20 minutes of practicing yoga your focus improves, memory is boosted, and it lowers your stress levels. It also improves your flexibility, improves coordination, and balance.

Yoga helps you slow your breathing, relax, and concentrate on the present while releasing tension throughout your body.

The following is a list of some of the many benefits of yoga:

• Yoga promotes calmness. You will feel calmer and will be better able to achieve a deep sleep.
• Yoga increases endurance. Yoga lowers blood pressure and improves circulation which improves the oxygen levels throughout the body.  This will improve cardiovascular endurance, and lung function.  Along with weight loss the risk of heart disease decreases.
• Yoga helps decrease excess weight. Yoga helps with weight loss and helps to maintain a healthy weight.
• Yoga helps stabilize blood sugar levels. Blood sugar levels lower and the pancreas is stimulated which should increase insulin production and can help prevent and control type 2 diabetes.
• Yoga boosts the immune system. The movement and poses massage the inner organs and helps drain the lymphatic system, boosting the immune system which should help in preventing disease including colds, flu and cancer.
• Yoga improves digestion. Twisting poses along with movement improves posture helping the digestive system function properly. Yoga along with a healthy diet will help eliminate constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.
• Yoga builds muscles. Yoga builds muscles and in doing so makes your posture straighter and protects your spine. This reduces the compression of the spine and helps overall body alignment, reducing back pain and sciatica.   It prevents cartilage breakdown and can help prevent degenerative arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome. Your bones will be strengthened which will help prevent osteoporosis.
• Yoga reduces pain. I suffered from migraines for years, after a few months of yoga I noticed the migraines were gone. Yoga even helps relieve premenstrual syndrome and menstrual cramps. Yoga can also control some of the effects of menopause ie hot flashes.
• Yoga helps to prevent the signs of aging.   Stress is relieved which means that you are less likely to clench your jaw and furrow your brows. Increased blood flow helps maintains a healthful glow and increases the skin’s elasticity. Yoga helps tone, sculpt and define the face. The appearance of wrinkles diminishes giving you a more youthful appearance.

Along with the many benefits already mentioned your self-esteem improves giving you inner strength and a happier more positive outlook on life. You will find you have made changes for the better without even realizing it.  Yoga promotes a stronger connection with loved ones and other people in general.  Depression and anxiety are diminished facilitating self-acceptance and control. Yoga promotes self-acceptance and self-control while reducing hostility which results in a much calmer lifestyle.

After I had been practicing yoga for some months I felt calmer and things did not affect me the same way they had in the past.

I am healthier emotionally and physically stronger.  I’m more toned than I have ever been in my entire life.   This is all thanks to yoga!