Most of us that practice yoga already know that yoga is good for us. It helps strengthen and stretch our body giving us healthy, tone, lean muscles. Yet, most of us, myself included, didn’t really understand the physiological aspect of why all of this yoga is so good for me.
Some aspects of the practice are pretty obvious. The lower I sit in my chair pose the more my thighs and gluts begin to work and burn. Right away my body responds to the effort and with diligent practice, I will have stronger legs. Similarly when I mindfully lower through my chaturanga from my plank pose, my elbows close into the body, immediately I feel the difference of my triceps and abs getting worked.
Yet, if I just wanted to work my muscles I could go lift weights. The beauty of yoga is that there is usually a simultaneous stretching involved when practicing. However, what happens to the body is not as apparent when stretching. After practicing for a while I notice that I am more flexible but I found out that there is a great deal of benefit.
One major benefit of stretching is that it increases the blood supply and nutrients to joints. So no more excuses of “I am not in shape or my joints hurt,” yoga will, actually help you to get in shape and alleviate the joint pain (surprise, surprise). Again, one must listen to their body and not push oneself. Take your time and ease into or modify any poses that might affect the tender area.
Stretching will also increase the tissue temperature, which in turn increases circulation and nutrient transport. It is sort of a weird reference, but there was a television show in Japan about the benefits of stretching and I realize now that the show was talking exactly about this. They showed a person in infrared standing straight and the color of the body was mostly blue greenish with some obvious warmer parts of the body glowing brighter with orange or red. Then they showed the person bending to the side (like in half moon). You could see the side of the body being stretched light up in red. At the end of the show they suggested that you could do side stretches while waiting for the bus or train to work out the love handles.
The next time you practice yoga you will know the great things you are doing for your body: strengthening, stretching and rejuvenating the self. If you find yourself in a deep stretch and your body tells your mind “too much, back off, I can’t stretch any further” ask the body, if I stretch any more will it bring me pain? If the answer is no, take in a deep breath and exhaling let your body sink a little deeper.
