Benefits Of Yoga For Women

If you haven’t rolled out a yoga mat yet, you’re missing out on the amazing health benefits of this ancient mind-body practice. Here are just a few reasons why women of all ages should incorporate a yoga routine into their regular fitness schedule.

Improved Strength

Yoga Rocks!

Just take one look at Jennifer Aniston’s arms and you’ll realize how beneficial yoga is for developing strong and lean muscles without bulking up. While weight-training relies on external resistance from hand weights and machines to build strength, yoga requires that you use your own body weight to move and support you.

Postures like plank pose, downward dog, and triangle pose lengthen muscles while also toning and sculpting them.  From sleek biceps to strong quadriceps, yoga’s ability to incorporate the macro and micro muscles makes it a fabulous total body workout.

Reduced Stress on Joints

Running, aerobics, and kickboxing are all high-impact activities that might be great for boosting your heart rate and getting you in shape but they can also do some wear and tear on your joints. Yoga is a low-impact workout that when done correctly can actually rehabilitate injuries.

Many high-impact sports make you tighter and less limber but yoga’s ability to increase flexibility and range of motion can actually support your regular high-impact fitness routine and reduce your risk for injury.

Less Stress, Better Sleep

Sweet Dreams

Millions of American women suffer from sleeping problems. Stress has been shown to play a significant factor in developing insomnia and other sleep-related conditions. Yoga can reduce stress through its practice of coordinated breathing and movement.

In addition, engaging in a more vigorous kind of yoga like Ashtanga or a power yoga can improve sleep since its intensity will help energize as well as tire you. Just make sure that if you do a dynamic yoga class, take your class at least three hours before you hit the sheets.

Improved Body Confidence

A landmark study published in the journal, Psychology of Women Quarterly reported that women who engaged in a regular yoga practice have a better body image than those who partake in other forms of exercise. Researchers theorize that these mental health benefits stem from yoga’s ability to encourage us to tune into our bodies and accept them for their strengths and weaknesses.

In the majority of yoga classes, there are no mirrors which for women are often windows for negative self-judgments.   Yoga instead emphasizes your body’s abilities rather than its appearance and it subtlety encourages you to become more mindful of your thoughts, emotions and actions which can lead to greater self-esteem and an improved self-image.

Getting Started With Yoga For Women

If you are new to yoga, start out slow and scope out your area for a well-respected school with trained teachers. With so many different styles of yoga to choose from give yourself some time to experiment with a variety of kinds until you find one that resonates with you.

Heather Ashare’s Bio:

Heather is a writer specializing in yoga, nutrition, wellness and health for DietsInReview.com. She received a Masters degree in public health from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Michigan.

To get more from Heather and her crew check out her diet site! There is some fantastic info on diet and fitness that I highly recommend.