Yoga has numerous benefits for our well-being, we tend to link them with physical fitness because it is identified as a sport but what we will discover in this blog is that not everything is reduced to that, yoga involves both body and mind. What started as a spiritual practice has become a lifestyle that helps numerous people to significantly improve their mental health.

Let's start by understanding yoga

Yoga is an Indian discipline, it comes from the word "jug" which means to unite, to connect, to relate, it allows us to create that "nexus" with our inner self and with the universe to achieve psychological, physical and spiritual harmony. We put it into practice through numerous postures, exercises and techniques. The main objective when performing this discipline is to connect our body, mind and breath.

When talking about yoga it is important to know that there are several types of yoga, for all ages, audiences and tastes. We can do different types of yoga depending on your goal. If you want to do hardcore exercises we recommend vinyasa yoga or power yoga, if you are looking for something more relaxed, hathayoga we leave you here a blog talking about it.

Breathing

We talk about conscious breathing, sometimes it seems like something that we have integrated and we do it naturally but in yoga that is not enough, we must be aware of our breathing, it must be slow, deep and rhythmic during the practice of all asanas . It is important to put into practice these fundamentals to perform this discipline properly as well as we must know that we must start breathing nasally from the deepest part of our rib cage and gradually filling our lungs with air, this mechanism will help us keep the spine straight and straight.

Inspiration will be associated with extension movements where we must train our lungs to take in as much air as possible, while expiration will be carried out in flexion moments.

Benefits of yoga for mental health

"Yoga is essentially a practice for your soul, working through your body." Tara Fraser

Yoga and mental health are two terms that go hand in hand. Yoga is considered one of the best reports for improving the symptoms of people living with a range of mental illnesses, from anxiety to depression. The key lies in the breath, so it is very important to follow the steps mentioned above. Connecting physically and mentally makes our body in tune and not only that, it also helps us to:

• Significantly reduce our stress levels.
• Increase the rhythm of our blood flow and therefore a better circulation which will make us feel lighter and freer.
• Reconnect with all the lymphatic systems of our body.
• Improve the hours of sleep.
• Have a better mood.
• Improved lung capacity and heart rate.