There are many benefits of a yoga practice. Just ask the over 20.4 million people in the United States practice yoga! That number is said to increase 20% every year. So why are so many people picking up the “asana” practice?

Benefit #1: Yoga is for everyone

Often we place our own limits on why we can or cannot do something. The No. 1 reason people avoid yoga is because they are not flexible, but yoga helps students become flexible through variations and modifications of poses. Yoga offers a safe place for you to develop flexibility and strength, practice, and improve without expectation.

Another reason is not having an active lifestyle. Yoga offers great benefits to people who work at a desk all day by helping release the hips, and is the a great way to get back into an active lifestyle.

There is a class for everyone. PureJoy offers different types of classes, including Beginner’s Yoga classes to help get you over the fear of your first class.

Benefit #2: Happiness follows you off the mat

There’s a reason every article on happiness includes yoga or meditation. Consistent practice decreases depression and increases self-esteem. The physical and mental practice also helps alleviate stress, tension in the body, and recurring thoughts of fear and anger. Most students feel more relaxed and at ease with a regular practice. Anxiety issues can even be resolved. The mindfulness practice and art of staying present also increase happiness.

Benefit #3: Physical health benefits means less time at the doctor

Research shows that migraine sufferers have fewer and less painful migraines after three months of yoga practice.
– US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health

• Improved flexibility and strength
• Joints move through full range of motion vs. weightlifting
• Helps position head for better posture
• Improves circulation
• Helps the lymphatic system in fighting infection and cancerous cells
• Lowers cortisol levels
• Regulates cholesterol

In people with diabetes, yoga has been found to lower blood sugar in several ways: by lowering cortisol and adrenaline levels, encouraging weight loss, and improving sensitivity to the effects of insulin. – Yoga Journal

• Improves coordination, reaction time, memory, and even IQ scores
• Better sleep
• Boosts immunity, meaning fewer colds

Studies of people with asthma, high blood pressure, Type II diabetes (formerly called adult-onset diabetes), and obsessive-compulsive disorder have shown that yoga helped them lower their dosage of medications and sometimes get off them entirely. – Yoga Journal

Benefit #4: Lower back pain meets its match

Millions suffer from back pain, specifically lower back pain. Doctors prescribe opiates and muscle relaxers to mask the symptoms, whereas yoga helps stretch, build and relax the spine.

“Yoga isn’t just about the body, it’s also about the mind, and it’s a technique that has really helped me. I had some lower-back problems a few years ago and once I started to do the yoga, it has helped them go away for now.” -LeBron James

Benefit #5: Yoga, a full body workout

There may not be a lot of fancy weights and machines, but your mat holds the best machine for a full body workout: YOU! Through balancing, inversions, and standing postures, you are using your body as resistance.

Benefit #6: Getting your “Me” time in

A lot of people do not have the space or time in their schedule for quiet reflection. Yoga is an opportunity for students to not have to “do” anything. The “walking meditation” helps get the hustle and bustle out of the head, and start moving from a more grounded place.

Benefit #7: The practice is a practice

In yoga, we say “Practice makes more practice.” There is always somewhere new to go in your pose and deeper into yourself. The more a student practices, the more benefits show up in life.