Yoga is an age-old scientific practice, which has been passed down from one generation to another. While today, a lot of youngsters fall prey to the fad of modern exercises,which aim to sculpt your body, Yoga is an absolutely different ball game. After having practiced yoga for over 5 years, here are the first hand benefits I have experienced.
- YOGA can help in balancing your hormones: I have been a PCOS patient ever since I can remember. Irregular periods, Scanty menstrual flow, weight gain, excessive facial hair have haunted me for years. Regular practice of Yoga, ensures that all your internal organs get the required compression and pressure, which eventually helps in accurate functioning of the ovaries, gradually resolving PCOS from its root.
- YOGA gives you a healthy perspective towards life and relationships: Yoga does not really detach you from the world, rather makes you capable of being attached however without any expectations from anyone. So a regular practitioner of Yoga has balanced emotions, is sympathetic and considerate, however does not personally get overwhelmed by any situation.
- YOGA makes you beautiful in and out: There is no dearth of content which talks about the benefits of Yoga at a physical level. It gives you a toned body, flawless skin, beautiful hair, but moreover it gives you the internal stability to look at life positively. It does increase your tolerance level to all the negativity happening around you. When you are happy and content from within, it automatically surfaces on your face.
- YOGA will help you know yourself better than ever before: Do we really know ourselves really well? We may know our ambitions, our desires to live a life in the materialistic world. However, do we know of our spiritual ambitions? Do we know the real purpose of life? As humans are we supposed to just run behind money and success, procreate and die? Or do we have a bigger purpose in life? Yoga is a revelation of your true purpose in life. It will slowly enable you to think beyond the obvious.
- YOGA makes you stronger from within: While I am not against modern day exercises, we see so many gym enthusiasts passing away due to heart attacks. Have we ever thought, why would someone who is a regular at the gym, have such a weak internal body? The reason is simple. Gym’s or any other physically intensive workout (except for walking or running in the open air) predominantly is for the mirror body and does not work on your immune system. Yoga in its traditional form includes slow physical movements which are synchronized with your breathing system. This process slowly makes you internally stronger and builds your immune system. Hence, rishis in India who practice yoga have a very long and healthy life.
- YOGA is the only solution to all lifestyle disorders: Poor Diet, Impractical Work Schedule, No family life, rat race to achieve materialistic success is a very common problem globally leading to lifestyle Disorders like Diabetes, Obesity, High Blood Pressure etc. The modern solution to these issues is popping medicines one after the other, which subsequently becomes a habit. Modern day medicines merely suppress the disorders and make you permanently dependent on them. The side-effects of long term drug consumption are even worse. The only way to eradicate and potentially reverse these disorders is regular and dedicated practice of Yoga.
- YOGA helps you manage stress effectively: All of us in today’s world go through bouts of emotions and stress. As we know “STRESS” is the root-cause of most health and mind related challenges today. Regular practice of Yoga will help you manage stress and look at it indifferently, without letting it impact your mind or body. You will be focussed on resolving an issue, rather than worrying about it.
- YOGA makes you disciplined: Every successful human has one thing in common and i.e “DISCIPLINE”. Yoga is not about setting new year resolutions and forgetting about it a week later, it is about consistently putting in efforts to better yourself at all levels. It is a lifelong journey towards perfection. When we put systematic efforts towards one practice and experience its positive impact on our body and mind, we slowly learn to put the same efforts in other walks of life as well. This gradual practice makes us consistent and disciplined. We set a parameter of how we want to lead our lives and are determined to follow it.
- YOGA teaches you to be patient: As mentioned earlier, Yoga is not about quick results. It takes time to see its impact. It is a very gradual and subtle process. If you don’t stick to it with dedication and impulsively quit, you may never be able to experience the true magic. And once you experience the beauty of regular yoga practice, you will learn to be patient in all walks of life. This process will teach you that nothing can be achieved in a jiffy. Every good thing takes its own sweet time to happen.
- YOGA equals Acceptance of situation as it is: We usually see people getting paranoid when they are unable to achieve the targets they set for themselves. It hurts and eventually also depresses them. It affects their confidence and their ability to accept failures. Yoga will make you practical towards setting the right and achievable goals and also better your capacity of acceptance of failure. It makes you aware of the fact that nothing in this world comes with a guarantee card, not even success. Accepting the situation as it is, without getting personally impacted, will better your chances of success in the next attempt.
Ultimately, Yoga is an experience. It may not impact everyone similarly. The results may vary from person to person. But, it will certainly leave a positive impact on everyone.