How Practicing Yoga Can Benefit Women

Yoga is a practice that’s been around for over 5000 years and has been used as a way to improve physical, mental, and spiritual health.

It had originated in ancient India, thought to date back to Pre-Vedic traditions. However, in the recent years it has become a widely adopted practice across the globe, and is now practiced by people from various backgrounds and cultures, age groups, professions including athletes, actors and large organizations (including the US Military!) to help the individual cope with and prevent physical injuries and pain, improve mental wellbeing as well as to promote holistic fitness.

Yoga in the Modern Era

It is truly astounding to see that a practice developed and practiced over 5 millennia ago is so widely adopted in a world that seems so disconnected from spiritual wellbeing as such. But if you dive deeper into the benefits of yoga and its effects on your body, mind and emotions, you get a clear picture of why this age-old practice is becoming an integral part of so many lives.

Women’s Fitness

Spiritual wellness usually connects you to something that is greater than yourself, beyond the limits of body and mind. It helps you connect with the inner self and find a sense of purpose and meaning in life. Yoga, which was traditionally practiced as a way of life, encourages you to look inward through various physical and mental techniques that help increase self-awareness. 

It’s not only yoga that’s seen an improved public perception – a big shift in recent years has brought more attention to women’s fitness. 

“For many women ‘fitness’ has become synonymous with ‘weight loss’ and has been centred around unrealistic body images.” Steph Boll

The support out there is ever-growing, with many organizations and support groups providing an encouraging space for women to share their fitness journeys together.

This leads me to the crux of this post; how exactly do women benefit from an exercise like yoga?

What are the health benefits of yoga?

When I first got into yoga, I couldn’t believe that a group of exercises could offer so many benefits to those who practiced it.

That was until I learned that there are well over a dozen different kinds of yoga styles to choose from.

From Hatha Yoga to Yin Yoga, you aren’t limited by the kind of different styles of yoga you can choose from.

Each different yoga discipline offers you different challenges and benefits and should be chosen based on what you are looking to get from it.

To keep things concise, I won’t go into too much detail about the different kinds of yoga or their benefits, though I highly recommend you look into the various disciplines of yoga and find one in line with what you are hoping to achieve.

Now that we’ve covered the basics of yoga, let’s jump into what exactly yoga offers you in terms of health benefits, what health-related issues it addresses, and how you can use yoga in your life.

• Reduces back pain

A scary number of women, report suffering from recurring back pain; around 70% of women in urban areas to be exact! Yoga asana practice helps relieve back pain and improves flexibility. 

• Helps prevent joint breakdown and arthritis

Yoga works to prevent the effects of issues related to the joints and cartilage by providing movement and stretching to areas seldom accessed in a modern day-to-day life.

• Reduces risk of heart attack and strokes.

Yoga increases your heart rate, increases your blood flow, and lowers blood pressure.

• Reduces the symptoms of Premenstrual Syndrome

Yoga has been studied excessively and has not only been found to decrease the symptoms of PMS, but also improve the regularity of cycles, improve mood, and help with relaxation.

• Improves strength.

There are yoga styles such as Mysore style and Vinyasa that are seen as a vigorous and challenging workout. If you’ve ever tried it, you’ll know what I mean. That challenge doesn’t go unrewarded though. Yoga improves muscle and core strength in ways many other exercises cannot.

• Improves bone strength. 

           The weight-bearing exercises that yoga has you doing improves the strength of your bones.

• Diabetes.

Yoga promotes weight loss, lowers cortisol levels, and improves sensitivity to the effects of insulin – all lowering the risk of diabetes-related complications.

• Improves sleep.

If you’ve ever struggled with your sleep (as many do), then you’ll attest that any form of help in getting a good night’s sleep is a life-raft in a seemingly endless ocean. Yoga helps you sleep deeper – the effects of which include lowered symptoms of anxiety and depression, improved concentration, and lower risk of heart disease.

• IBS, digestive issues, and ulcers.

Yoga, like many exercises that require flexibility, assists your body in moving waste through the digestive tract.

Other Benefits

There are a lot of other benefits that are theorized to help, alleviate, or even completely get cured by yoga. Some of them range from less sinus congestion to a lowered risk of cancer – I’ll let you do your research on these and have you decide on what benefits you think are achievable!

What are the Emotional and Mental Benefits of Yoga?

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, yoga benefits your body, but also your mind and spirit too. Let’s have a look at what some of these benefits are.

• Improved self-esteem

Yoga, like many other forms of exercise, improves your physical health, as well as   

            your mental health as it helps with self-acceptance. Regardless of whether your hair   

            grows longer or not, or whether you lose weight or get a smoother skin– regular 

            practice of yoga will encourage you to lead a healthier lifestyle and as a result helps 

            improve your self-image.

• Even our posture improves with yoga.

Good posture is something I fervently believe is linked to the way we perceive ourselves and our worth in comparison to others.

• Improved concentration.

            I am always fidgeting, distracted, and letting my mind wander. As I write this, I  

            wonder what the dog barking nearby, is named, what they look like, and what they   

            had for breakfast. All that, while I spin a pen in my one hand and nibble on the pen’s 

           lid rhythmically. That’s with the improved concentration yoga allows. If you’re anything  

           like me, yoga gives you a platform to learn to quieten the noise, settle the body, and 

           enjoy serenity (which can feel like sanity). The breathing exercises, the prolonged 

           holding of positions, and meditation practiced during yoga, all aid in improving one’s  

           concentration.

• Increased mindfulness.

           As our relationship with ourselves improves both mentally and physically, so does the  

           relationship we keep with everything (and everyone) around us. An improved 

           perspective allows us to practice mindfulness like never before.

• Reduces dependence on pharmaceuticals and narcotics.

           Along your yoga journey, you’ll find that many of the physical, emotional, and spiritual      

          stumbling blocks, you suppress, or remedy through pharmaceutical drugs or narcotics 

          are no longer as pronounced. Insomnia, anxiety, depressions, body dysmorphia, self-

          hate – yoga has ways of scrubbing that from our mental state, all without the need for 

         drugs.

Share Your Thoughts!

If you are looking for easy ways to get into yoga and begin experiencing any of these benefits, then drop me a comment!

I’d love to engage with you and begin your transformation together! It’s this sense of community that got me into this work, to begin with.

If you think someone else could benefit from yoga, share this with them, and finally, enjoy every step toward your improved physical, mental, and spiritual self!