Experience Yoga's Many Health Benefits (Part 2) ? FitnessNOW for ...

In addition to helping to manage stress and anxiety, practicing yoga has other health benefits, including: increased physical fitness, help in managing chronic health conditions, weight loss, increased flexibility and strength, improved posture and breathing, and lower blood pressure and slower heart rate.

Specifically, according to mayoclinic.com, the benefits of yoga are numerous and may include:

? Stress reduction. With its quiet, precise movements, yoga draws your focus away from your busy, chaotic day and toward calm as you move your body through poses that require balance and concentration.

? Increased fitness. As you learn and refine new poses, you may enjoy improved balance, flexibility, range of motion, and strength. And this means you?re less likely to injure yourself in other physical endeavors or in your daily activities.

? Management of chronic health conditions. Yoga might help with a variety of health conditions, such as cancer, depression, pain, anxiety and insomnia, by helping with sleep problems, fatigue, and mood. Yoga also can help reduce heart rate and blood pressure.

? Weight loss. If you?re overweight or have binge-eating disorder, yoga may help you make the healthy lifestyle changes necessary to gain control of your eating and drop those extra pounds.

And, according to webmd.com, yoga can:

? Improved posture through increased flexibility and strength.

? Improved lung capacity with deep, mindful breathing, which can improve performance and endurance.

? Lower blood pressure and slower heart rate.

If you are new to yoga, consider the following advice:

? Wear clothing that allows you to move freely and warm up first.

? Listen to what your body tells you. Go slow. Yoga isn?t supposed to hurt. Know your limits and stay within them.

? Keep hydrated.

Before you start practicing yoga, webmd.com and mayoclinic.com recommend checking with your doctor if you have any of the following health conditions: balance problems; severe osteoporosis; high or low blood pressure; ear, eye or spine problems; artificial joints; or if you are pregnant.

And don?t forget: the Warrenville Park District offers several different kinds of yoga classes year-round: come out and try one!

SPECIAL OFFER: Mention this blog post by June 15, 2012, and get a FREE yoga class; call 630.393.7279 for details. Limit one free class per person; must sign a waiver. Free class expires June 30, 2012.

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Explore posts in the same categories: Body & Spirit, Flexibility, Muscular fitness, Strength, Stretching, Warrenville Park District, Yoga

This entry was posted on May 30, 2012 at 2:44 am and is filed under Body & Spirit, Flexibility, Muscular fitness, Strength, Stretching, Warrenville Park District, Yoga. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: improved breathing, improved posture, increased flexibility, increased strength, stress, stretching, Warrenville Park District, weight loss, yoga

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