Let's talk about yoga!
"Yoga helps you to look good." is oversimplified result of practicing yoga. In fact, the benefits of yoga come in different levels, from physical fitness to mental health, and even psychological wellbeing. Contrary to popular belief, yoga is not only about doing asana (poses) and being a human pretzel, instead it helps you to take care of yourself from different aspects and levels. When you feel comfortable from inside out, have your chakras (energy centers of body) balanced out, have strong mental and positive thinking, you will definitely look good.
Breathing not only helps us to stay alive, maintaining optimum blood oxygen level helps to reduce lethargy and maintain good metabolism rate. However, many especially us who living the modern lifestyle often neglect the importance of breathing correctly - yes many of us dont breath correctly. Short and rapid breathing can intensify emotional tension of an already stressful person. In yoga practices, breathing plays an important part in asanas and meditation. With oxygen-saturated blood circulated in all our body parts, we will definitely feel better.
Modern lifestyle is contributing to neck pain, stiff shoulder, back problems, and even emotional anxiety, and these problems are getting more common among the younger groups. The body that we want to achieve is one with balanced muscle strength and flexibility, in order to maintain good health. Always pairing flexibility training with muscle toning, you can achieve muscle strengthening and lengthening (stretch) at the same time, with most of the yoga asanas. By maintaining balanced muscle strength and flexibility, and also balanced energy, these problems from modern lifestyle can be relieved, and we can handle daily hurdles with calmer heart and thoughts.
As a form of low-impact exercise, yoga has been shown to lower stress hormones in our bodies while simultaneously increasing beneficial brain chemicals such as endorphins, which help to decrease anxiety and improve mood. By practicing asanas, we need to focus on the feelings brought about by our muscles, as well as our inner feelings, in a way we are taking a break from our problems and the problems realized to become may become less important after the practices. Believe it or not, practicing asanas is easier when your mind is empty than when your mind is cluttered.
Other than keeping our chakras balanced, watching the energy that we take in is important too. Being around with positive people, even if you are not, practice to say no to negative energy. Diet is considered as energy intake as well. Consuming real and nutritious food helps to relief the burden of our body from digesting chemicals and additives. All these together, help to keep our emotional wellbeing at good level. After7.00am is a good option for good energy intake as the granola is made of high quality ingredients that are carefully selected, which is suitable for kids and adults.
Yoga is a long journey. Yoga is a lifestyle. From practicing of asanas, to enjoying the comfort of the body, to pursuing the connection between the mind and the body, to understanding one's inner voice, and making peace with oneself — all need to be done step by step. The most wonderful thing about yoga is "being mindful", you'll learn to accept yourself and appreciate your body for the things that it can do in the present moment.
Vivian Loh
Yoga and Rehabilitation Instructor
