3 Awesome Benefits Of Yoga: Volume 7
It’s time to dive a little deeper into another three of the many benefits of Yoga to help you expand and improve your practice.
Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is described as a person’s overall sense of self-worth and value, and your self-esteem can play a significant role on your motivation and success in life. Low self-esteem often equates to a lack of self-belief and feeling unworthy, or generally not good enough. So, it’s really important we help ourselves maintain a healthy level of self-esteem, and this is one of the many benefits of Yoga.
Studies have shown that regular Yoga practice over a period of time can help alleviate the intensity of stress levels and improve self-esteem. A common practice in many forms of Yoga are using mantras or affirmations. These are phrases repeated throughout a Yoga practice to help give your movement and mind purpose as you move. This form of self-talk helps us see our bodies and minds in a positive light, helps us to see ourselves how others might see us and allows us to focus on our strengths and abilities, as opposed to our insecurities or what we think we might lack.
Exhaustion
Tiredness is a part of our lives. Each night we need to ensure we get enough rest so that we can get through the following day. Sometimes however, unprecedented circumstances and mental and physical exertion can catch up with us, leaving us feeling completely exhausted. When we find ourselves feeling tired and worn out day after day, it’s time to listen to our bodies and help them slow down. Yoga is a brilliant way of helping with this.
As we control our breath during our practice, stress levels begin to decrease, and as stress reduces, energy levels rise. As we start to move, blood flows more quickly around the body bringing fresh oxygen to the muscles and strengthening under-activated areas. This sensation may feel strange or challenging at first, but given time your energy levels with undoubtedly increase, and feelings of fatigue and exhaustion will disperse.
Body Image
Surrounded as we are with images of people on Instagram and Twitter, it can be difficult not to compare our bodies to others’, and this can quickly have us feeling like our bodies are inadequate. But studies have shown that practicing Yoga from as little as just twenty minutes per day for four weeks can have a positive effect on perceived body image.
Of course, as you progress through your practice you will see your body begin to change, including muscle definition, strength, balance, flexibility and fat loss. But the studies we are talking about go deeper than that.
Even when weight, fat mass and muscle mass in participants were unchanged, the practice of Yoga helped change the way participants saw their own bodies, and how they felt about them.
A 2018 study at the University of Minnesota showed how practicing Yoga helped participants perceive their bodies in a more positive light, be more grateful for their bodies and how they moved and helped them with their sense of self-confidence as they saw bodies of all shapes and sizes practicing and enjoying Yoga.
The important thing to remember about Yoga is that it is never about the aesthetics; Yoga doesn’t care how you look; it only cares how you feel. Yoga is all about the inward journey, taking yourself away from the outside world to reflect on the self and to exist in the present moment. So where will your Yoga take you?
References
What Is Self-Esteem?, Kendra Cherry, Very Welll Mind, 2022
*https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1744388118308089*
*https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/yoga-for-confidence-a-practice-to-boost-self-esteem*
Increase Your Energy, Justine Glenton, Health and Fitness Travel, 2020
Yoga For Fatigue, Yoga Journal, 2020
How Yoga Can Improve Body Image, Tara Caguiat, Mental Health America, 2020
The Classic Yoga Bible, Christina Brown, Godsfield Press, 2009.
