Why is starting Yoga a good idea?
Movie stars, top athletes, your favourite celebrities, Karen from next door - it seems like EVERYONE is a self-proclaimed yogi these days!
Well, the craze comes with certified, scientifically endorsed proof. Yoga is viewed as a holistic stress management technique that actually yields a physiological sequence of events in the body that reduces the stress response (Parshad, 2004). It is this supreme calming of the entire hormonal and endocrine system, in other words, the bodily functions that can spurn anxieties or feelings of low worth in us. When we practice yoga we actually learn to tamper these settings, and regain control.
Yoga is a massively enriched, highly developed and refined practice that covers endless different techniques and styles. It is because of its highly holistic nature that yoga acts almost as a multivitamin, ensuring once you’ve incorporated a regular yoga practice into your life, other healthy habits will form and fall into place.
In a 2009 study on yoga beginners, it was concluded that some felt that because of their yoga practice they started to eat healthier, and found that they were maintaining better and more productive habits in general, such as drinking less alcohol, and going to sleep earlier (Permuth, 2009).
So yes, the hype is very, very real. Keep reading as I’ve outlined some fundamental motivations to get you starting yoga today!
It is all inclusive: You can practice it and incorporate it no matter your age, physical or mental condition or stipulation, as it is so varied in the types of things you can learn.
‘Yoga applies to the rest of my life. Teachers keep telling us how yoga isn't about being perfect, and I've really started to believe that I can take that message to my work and to my home, and I feel better about my imperfections’. Any person with any kind of background and skill level, can start to learn yoga.
It is as varied in nature, there are so many type of yoga nowadays that there is a very likely chance you will find your fit.
None of us are perfect, and when we start yoga we’re not going to be able to do super difficult holds for hours on end. We’re not going to be able to sit and meditate for hours either, and that’s absolutely fine, because the philosophy of yoga tells us to feel grounded, and to feel connected and one with the beautiful world that surrounds us. And that is all that matters.
Nature is imperfect, but because it doesn’t go against the flow of the world, it does everything it needs to, and it takes however long it takes to do so. Through yoga you can learn to do the same, and feel a deep assuredness and peace through doing so.
2. It’s addictive! The influx of endorphins - the ‘happy chemical’ that gets produced in our bodies when we practice something stimulating, these keep you coming back for more, leading to a very healthy and productive cycle that you can look to start today.
For whatever motivation you have, yoga is fundamental. It gives your body the stimulation it needs, in the form of hormetic stress, but it also helps your body reset and rejuvenate, which is fundamental for recovery from all forms of physical activity. It doesn’t have to be these extremely complex holds or movements that you see these experienced yogis practicing, and it doesn't have to give you a sense of ‘enlightenment’ either. It can literally be a 20 minute stretching session. Chances are, you’ve never given your body the opportunity to fully stretch and alleviate the tightness trapped in its many muscles. Doing this can give you an instant sense of euphoria, as if it was just what your body needed in that moment.
There’s a reason so many athletes around the world are now engulfed in their daily yoga practice. It’s not only ideal for recovery by supplying the muscles with adequate blood flow and ensuring vital nutrients are enriching the whole body after exercise, but by incorporating things such as pranayama, ancient breathing techniques designed to give you a sense of emotional release, these sessions can be deeply healing both mentally and physically.
3. Your physical state will develop more than you ever imagined: you will become more toned, stronger in your muscle resilience and adaptability, increase your core strength and balance, and gain flexibility.
This in turn will increase your self-efficacy, or in other words, the confidence in yourself and your capabilities, tenfold. There comes a point in your life where you realise your health and physical wellbeing becomes a priority. It may be at a young age, but it may be once you get older and the stresses that come with raising a young family and other binding commitments start to burden your wellbeing.
Your body is your vessel: how often are you supplying this vessel with what it needs to flourish? Do you exercise regularly? If you do, how often do you find your body becomes inundated with injury, aches and general pain, convincing you to stop exercising?
Generally, people lowered blood pressure, improved respiration, enhanced muscular strength and flexibility, improved stress levels, and had better sleep quality from yoga (Permuth, 2009), which goes to show the transformational but multifaceted power of yoga, and what it can do for you.
Yoga can be the answer to your problems and give you a body that can perform, and stand much more resilient in the face of adversity than you ever thought it could. Advanced yogis can perform complex postures for hours without stopping to rest - even in their 70s, so the practice really is magical for what it can do for your physical system, and the powers it can unlock deep with yourself. We all possess these powers. This is the real magic!
4. Yoga gives you a necessary ‘space’ in your mind: This space is ‘apparently’ only achieved by expert meditators, breathwork specialists - think monks and yogis!
But through yoga, you too can access this space and tap into states of pure peace and calm that you never thought you could attain. This is made possible through the combination of blood flow throughout the body, supported by a steady influx of oxygen enriching the brain and thus, the mind, which is activated by your conscious breathing.
These accompanied with stillness in your meditation practice, gives you the element of control, and makes you the master over how you feel. Everyone wants to feel calm and blissful, but we do not have the tools to make this happen automatically. Therefore, we go through life sedating our consciousness with substances such as caffeine, alcohol, painkillers, and we go further and further away from the roots of our being.
By going instead deep into yoga, even for just 10 minutes, you will first-hand experience that sense of oneness with your mind and body, and feel a peace you’ve potentially never before felt. It sounds too good to be true, but in normal daily life, we never go into our bodies and minds, instead we keep everything external as we try and keep up with work, financial, familial stresses, and the rest of it.
Permuth’s study brought up an interesting case study from a 30 year old female beginner to yoga, who stated ‘When I’m in a yoga class, most of the time I can completely zone out and focus on myself and how I’m breathing and moving. I can’t even do that with walking and I definitely can’t do that when I’m in a crowded and noisy gym’. It seems yoga gives you that monk-like peace and clarity of mind that acts almost like a superpower in the world we live in today!
5. Develop your willpower, and make your mindset your strongest muscle: It’s a proven fact - mindset is actually a neurologically-derived muscle, that like all our other muscles, needs strengthening and stabilising to not grow weak and less effective.
By diving into yoga and the challenges accompanying the endless varieties of postures you can take on, you will face remarkable obstacles that have to be overcome right there, in the moment.
Not only will the sense of pride upon being diligent and overcoming these tough physical challenges give you a deep feeling of gratitude and fulfillment, but each session you get through will shape and harden your mindset - that invisible armor you possess as a human being, giving you the strength and resilience to overcome life’s toughest challenges.
Yoga can restore the mind and body connection we were all born with and evolved to uphold throughout our lives. This deep feeling that we are in control and we are in tune with our bodies, gives us this foundational layer of confidence that we can approach anything that stands in our way and crush it!
6. Hone the skill of ‘letting go’: It may sound easy on paper, but the art of ‘letting go’, or ‘effortless action’ as Wu Wei philosophy calls it, is really a lot tougher to execute than it seems.
Most of us go through life holding onto many past experiences, as burdens that never let us take a true deep breath and relax into the moment. We may have hidden traumas that were never fully dealt with, or maybe just sustained negative emotions from some kind of detrimental interaction we may have had before.
People tend to hold onto these things for much longer than is needed. The problem with this is that by maintaining such a rigid and bothered state of being, the body and mind is in a constant survival mode. This means you are not getting a sufficient quality from your life, and things such as anxiety, depression, and even physical diseases can manifest as a result.
Yoga comes in to change all of that, almost in an instant. Because of the highly effective and battle-hardened combination of testing postures, stillness and pranayama (breathing techniques), you are forced to let go into the moment. If you don’t, it is impossible to complete a yoga session.
A study conducted on how yoga can influence relationships concluded that those consistently practicing every week were less likely to react during an argumentative situation with their partner, ultimately diffusing the conflict and remaining calm. A participant in the study noted: ‘I can definitely say that my wife and I get along better because of yoga. I think that we’ve both learned to be more patient and less judgemental. I am more mindful when I speak or when I act’!
By going into sessions regularly, you will find that you access states of ‘flow’ and unhindered ways of being a lot more seamlessly than before. These states are optimal for the flourishing of our lives.
7. Lengthen your life: Yes, you’ve read that right!
Yoga can literally increase our lifespan, as the techniques involved cover a range of areas including mindfulness, physical exertion, stretching, energy healing, and even trauma release. Yogis first began preaching the benefits of yoga to heal individuals battling disease, both mentally and physically.
They were aware of the miraculous powers of yoga to transform the lives of those who embarked on this journey, and you can too! The reasons behind its promise for longevity lie with how it improves cardiovascular health, and lowers inflammation drastically. Heart disease is one of the biggest dangers to life, and inflammation is the cause and effect of most diseases today.
Scholars have posited that yoga is a relaxation technique that can decrease breathing rate, (Telles, Reddy and Nagendra, 2000) heart rate, (Madanmohan, et al. 2004) and blood pressure (McCaffrey, et al. 2005), ultimately leading to a much greater control over the potential onset of diseases.
The postures I teach provide strength and mobility, but also to encourage the vascular systems in the body to better harmonise with each other, leading to a stronger rate of homeostasis throughout the body. This is the act of your immune system balancing out all its processes, flushing out toxins and kickstarting the healing process. Yoga has the ability to combine mindfulness, mobility and motor control all in one highly effective and proven practice, so starting today will leave you wondering why you didn’t pick this up earlier!
Having a trustful and accepting yoga teacher is paramount in ensuring an enriched and enjoyable experience: The same rings especially true for beginners, because the type of teacher you start with can dictate the longevity of your experience, and if you want to continue pursuing yoga.
Your teacher has to be compassionate, patient, warming and most importantly, knowledgeable and abundant in expertise. As a instructor with over 1000 hours of accredited yoga training from the Yoga Alliance, having travelled the world teaching the pillars of yoga and improving the lives of many, I am happy to assure you that you will be in good hands if you decide to take on yoga with me.
Because I want to incorporate you all into yoga as seamlessly and easily as possible, I’ve put together a super accessible, simple and comprehensive beginner yoga course. You don’t need to be strong, young, flexible or have the patience of a Tibetan monk to take on my course!
The four-week program will cover all the fundamental facets of yoga in enough detail to keep you hooked but easy enough to follow so you don’t lose track. You will learn how to move, meditate, breathe, and how to conduct yourself away from the mat so you don’t lose those amazing benefits you will gain during your sessions.
Each week i will give you:
A fabulous, brand new e-book so you can broaden your yoga education
A class of approx. 1 hour to learn the main poses
One new breathing technique so you can start to feel uplifted and inspired
A quiz to test your knowledge and challenge your memory
What’s more: you get to keep all of this for a whole year to use as many times as you like!
Once you feel fully comfortable with the basics of yoga and these fundamentals, you will schedule in a one to one consultation with me to see if you’re ready to progress your journey and join my group classes.
An hour session privately with me usually costs you £120, but because I want to get as many of you as possible diving head first into the wonderful world of yoga and all of its perks, the entire beginner’s course is on offer at just £60, for a limited time! To redeem, use promo code ‘BEGINNERSLOVE’ at checkout.
I wish you all the very best in starting your yoga journey. Hopefully I can make it a transformative and memorable one
With love,
Sarah x
Sources:
Parshad, O, 2004. Role of yoga in stress management. West Indian Medical Journal, 53(3), pp.191-194
Telles, S., Reddy, S.K, and Nagendra, H.R, 2000. Oxygen consumption and respiration following two yoga relaxation techniques. Applied Psychosocial Biofeedback, 25(4), pp.221-227
Madanmohan., Udupa, K., Bhavani, A.B, et al. 2004. Modulation of cardiovascular response to exercise by yoga training. Indian Journal of Physical Pharmacology, 48(4), pp.461-465
McCaffrey, R., Ruknui, P., et al. 2005. The effects of yoga on hypertensive persons in Thailand. Holistic Nurse Practitioner, 1994), pp.173-180
Singh, S., Malhotra, V., Singh, K.P., et al. 2004. Role of yoga in modifying certain cardiovascular functions in type 2 diabetic patients. Journal of Associational Physicians India, 52, pp.203-206
Permuth, R, 2009. Benefits, barriers, and cues to action of yoga practice: A focus group approach. Am J Health Behav, 33(1), pp.3-14