Working out for me is part of my daily routine. Without it, I feel like others feel when they miss their morning cup of coffee. And when I work out, I want to feel like I’ve worked out. The sweatier, the better. Because of that, for a long time, I rarely included a day of stretching or yoga into my routine. If it was on the schedule, I skipped it. In the last year though, that has changed.
About a year ago, I started the PiYo program which is best described as yoga on steriods. This program changed how I viewed yoga. After I finished one of these workouts, I felt strong and my muscles felt elongated and pliable.
Yoga suddenly made sense. Now, I make sure I get in 30 minutes of yoga or PiYo at least one day a week. Now that it has become part of my regular weekly schedule, I notice it has made a difference in my flexibility, strength, balance, and overall progress. I am hooked.
Practicing yoga or PiYo regularly has a many benefits:
- Flexibility. Yoga and PiYo stretch your muscles. Through stretching your muscles lengthens in turn improving your mobility and helping with muscle recovery after a difficult workout.
- Strength. Many poses and moves are designed to build strength. Poses such as downward dog, upward dog, and the plank, build upper-body strength. Standing poses, build strength in your hamstrings, quadriceps, and abs. Upward dog and the chair strengthen your lower back. And bonus — almost all poses and moves build core strength!
- Better posture. When you are stronger and more flexible, your posture improves. You tend to sit straighter and stand taller.
- Improved balance. Many poses like tree, dancer and half moon help with balance by working the tiny muscles in our ankles, knees and hips. Balance is important to maintain, particularly as we age.
- Lessens stress. Controlled breathing and the mediation used in yoga and PiYo help you relax.
- Improves your health. Yoga slows your heart rate, which in turn lowers your blood pressure. Yoga has also been linked to lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels. And added benefit – it improves immune system function.
So, give it a try…you might just get hooked!
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an incredibly long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyway, just wanted to say superb blog!