5 reasons why yoga & meditation are so good for you

5 reasons why yoga & meditation are so good for you

1. Stretch your body - stretch your mind 

 Possibly one of the most prominent reasons for stretching your body is to have the ability to stretch your mind. Notice how there are days when you feel more flexible than others ? This is because flexibility is partly in the mind. The way you feel about yourself, your current daily experiences, and your emotions have a direct effect on your body.

 2. Increase your strength through mindfulness

 Some people think that power comes from muscles. I am living proof this isn't true. I am 5’0 and 97 lbs, however, I have very odd strength. I think part of it is due to my parents never letting me realize how small I was growing up! Funny enough, they would call me “Hercules” , “horse” , and told me I was “SO strong”. And I grew up believing it! I believe it so much, that at times, I can lift things that very large men with strong muscles can lift. Moral of the story - strength is in the mind. Yoga can help with that. Yoga encourages you to use your mind & your breath to be able to achieve complicated poses with minimal effort.

 3. Release bad energy through breath.

 The one thing I love about hitting the mat after work or on the weekends - is that it is an entire hour & a half all to myself, with my thoughts, and no one’s voice, other than the teacher, trying to tell me what to do. I work all week and by Saturday I am exhausted. I feel rejuvenated after yoga and a lot of it has to do with letting bad energy out of your body through your breath. 
Yogi’s believe that you can transfer thoughts from one person to another through breathing and wavelengths. This same belief holds true for stored up, bad energy. Strong breathing for one hour and a half is a lot of bad energy out of your body! When the teacher says “breathe through the pain”, its not just metaphorical - there are very minute molecules that we can’t see that we need to stir up and push out of our bodies.

 4. Elongate your stance through stretching

 One of the main functions of yoga isn't often spoken about - stretching your spine! You can actually look, feel, and BE taller through yoga. All of the forward bends, back bends, down dog, even childs pose - these are all for the purpose of stretching out the spine!

 5. Feeling more present & centered. 

 I personally meditate one hour per night. If you don’t have that kind of time on your hands, even 10 minutes of daily practice will help. Meditation really helps you focus. I am a very natural person - I’ve never taken any of the drugs that my friends have for focus & attention & I don’t need to! It’s definitely a longer & harder road through meditation - but its HEALTHIER! Meditation brings you back into the present more often. If you notice yourself “daydreaming” a lot or thinking about your future or your past - that is the exact opposite of being present. Being present is really hard! It’s about being able to sit still and be COMFORTABLE with nothing. This meditation practice for me is actually comforting. It’s something I do before bed and it makes me feel lighter & happier.