Yoga: what's in it for you?

Yoga isn't just an amazing spiritual experience, it's the fitness motivation that you’ve been missing.

If you’ve ever been a victim of the yo-yo fitness cycle, you will know all too well how easy it can be to fall into the trap of becoming obsessed with fitness for a few weeks, and then falling off the wagon and back into bad habits.

Part of this can be due to fitting healthy choices and activities into your life, or clicking with your fitness instructor or personal trainer. One of the main reasons that people discontinue with their health and fitness regime, is that they don’t find the right activity for them. It’s no use promising yourself that you’ll get on the treadmill every other day, if the thought of that is enough to make you avoid the gym for a month!

Enter yoga classes. If you haven’t found the right motivation to get healthy and stay healthy, yoga is a great activity to try. The health benefits of yoga classes have long been documented, but it’s only now that many gym addicts are finding out how great yoga classes can be for your lifestyle.

Ever tried lifting weights at the gym? If you’re not a fan, then believe it or not, yoga classes can replace weight lifting! Strong muscles do more than look good, they also protect you from health problems like arthritis and back pain. With yoga you use the weight of your own body to weight train!

Yoga is more of a cardio activity than you may be giving it credit for. Yoga classes can increase your blood flow in the same way that running does. Yoga adds relaxation which boosts your mood and oxygen levels without the high-impact to your joints and muscles that running can induce. Due to the mood-lifting properties of yoga, you are more likely to feel positive about your yoga classes, and to want to keep attending. This is great for your continued fitness and motivation.

Dieting is something that many of us have a complicated relationship with at the best of times. Whether it’s craving junk food, or simply eating too much of the right things, there are plenty of bad habits we could do without. Whereas it can be tempting to ‘treat’ yourself to a chocolate bar or a bag of crisps after a big gym workout, yoga classes have the opposite effect. Not only is it a bad idea to eat rubbish when you’re twisting into poses, or standing on your head, but the improved blood flow and emotional wellbeing that yoga brings, discourage habits like unhealthy eating. Attending regular yoga classes stabilises your blood sugar, meaning you’re less likely to reach for high sugar foods to balance your mood or give you a quick fix.

If you haven’t given yoga a try before – get in touch to find out about my availability, and which studios you can find me at.