Yoga For Health

Yoga originated in India, and refers to a practise of achieving a higher state of awareness through traditional physical, mental and spiritual disciplines. It wasn’t until the early nineties that yoga really started to take off in the United States with celebrities like Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Meg Ryan becoming avid followers. So what can Yoga do for you and your clients you ask? Here we cover five key benefits that Yoga can offer, which will give you a better indication of how you can incorporate this into your next session.

#1 Physical Strength

Yes you read correctly, physical strength is one of the main benefits Yoga has to offer. Often people misinterpret Yoga as ‘relaxation’ form of exercise, which it can be, however certain types of Yoga, e.g. Dynamic Yoga, is a lot more fast paced, and relies on your body’s strength to hold a posture or stretch.

#2 Mental Clarity and Focus

Because of the meditative nature of yoga, people have reported improved levels of concentration and focus. This is a HUGE benefit, more than what people give Yoga credit for as people quite often prioritise time to exercise each day, but the type of exercise can be stressful on the body and mind. My doing yoga, you are still challenging yourself, but there are usually meditation times throughout a class that can helo clear your thoughts and give you more clarity for the rest of your day.

#3 Emotional wellbeing

Following on from number two, emotional wellbeing is another key benefit of Yoga. By practising Yoga, you encourage the flow of energy through the body helping it to clear emotional blockages and provide a sense of wellbeing. People often report they are calmer after regular practise of yoga. Feeling stressed, instead of taking it out on a boxing bag, why not choose the calmer approach and do Yoga instead.

#4 Bones, Muscles and Joint Health

Because of the nature of yoga, and they fact that it is low impact, yet strengthen your muscles and joints, over time your body becomes stronger and more flexible helping joints and muscles to stay supple. Stretching is one part of a training session MANY choose to leave out as they do not see the benefits, that is until they injure themselves. As Yoga encompases so many stretches throughout a workout, your body will naturally loosen and reduce tension, all the while getting stronger, win win!

#5 Injury Prevention and Enhanced Immunity

Yoga puts you back in touch with your body as you develop more of an awareness of what your body actually needs, helping you to break those unhealthy lifestyle habits. It also assists in injury prevention, as your immune and natural healing system develops. This is all due to holding various yoga positions and stretches, which holds the blood in your muscles, then when you release fresh blood moves throughout the body.

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AIF

The Australian Institute of Fitness

The Australian Institute of Fitness (AIF) is the largest and longest established fitness training organisation in Australia, with dynamic training methods and expert course coaches nationwide - spanning fitness, massage and nutrition. The AIF qualifies more fitness professionals than any other provider in Australia, as well as offering a broad range of continuing education courses (CEC), upskilling resources and partnership programs for existing industry.