Surprising Benefits of Having a Yoga Practice

If you’ve been alive in the past decade, you’ve probably heard that yoga + meditation are good for you. Maybe lately, you’ve been able to experience some of those benefits for yourself, like the “yoga high”, a state of deep relaxation and mental clarity that follows a good, long savasana. Or the happiness + release after a good hip opener, the physical and emotional release from opening up tight hip muscles.

More so now than ever before, we are feeling the stressors of everyday life. We’re constantly exposed to the world’s chaos; honestly, no one nervous system was ever meant to handle so much.

Our bodies often turn these overwhelming feelings into a sense of not being safe. This triggers our ‘fight or flight mode’ (sympathetic nervous system), a natural response that prepares us to deal with perceived threats. However, this constant state of alert can lead to anxiety, Depression, poor health, hormone imbalance, achiness, and exhaustion from always being ‘on’.

What yoga allows us to embody so beautifully is a sense of easing back into rest and digestion (the parasympathetic nervous system). Our nervous system can begin to heal, a therapeutic process that we can finally reset and release, like the deep sigh after a good cry or a scary event.

Yoga provides a deep exhale for our whole beings.

Regular practice makes our bodies more adept at recovering from daily stressors. We realise that we don’t need to be in a perpetual ‘on’ state, constantly trying to solve the world’s problems, even at 2 a.m. Yoga liberates us from this hyperactive state, helping us transition to a more peaceful ‘rest + digest’ mode, providing much-needed relief.

Yoga not only creates a more peaceful internal state, but it also fosters a sense of community. This sense of connection translates into us being better to our families and friends, less resentful, and better stewards of the planet. When we learn to tread lightly with ourselves, it becomes easier to tread lightly on those around us, knowing we are part of a supportive community.

Relaxation doesn’t have to be a struggle. At Our Yoga Family, we specialise in slowing down and connecting with your breath and body so seamlessly that you’ll find yourself immersed in it without even realising it.

It goes from feeling like another chore or impossible practice to something we crave. Yoga teaches us that self-care is necessary for survival and something we deserve to do more often. It’s a practice that reminds us of our values and the importance of taking care of ourselves.

Benefits of a Yoga Practice:

• Improved Health
• Feeling Enough
• Lowers rates of Depression + Anxiety, especially while postpartum
• Provides a sense of community
• Appreciating + Loving Your body as it is today (+ modelling that for others)
• Space to reflect on your own needs
• Encourages those around you to take care of

We encourage you to understand how you feel after your next class with us. Please look at how you felt before class, how you felt after, and how you felt the next day and the following days.

In this practice (never perfect), right alongside you –

Rohit + Anna, Kailash Yoga Ashram Family