3 Benefits of Practicing Yoga and Meditating Every Day

by Kim Thomas

If you flipped the calendar to April and realized that you aren’t sticking to your New Year’s resolution to eat healthier, be more active, and make healthful choices, don’t despair. You can go back to making healthy decisions today, and you can start by reminding yourself of your health goals and your commitment to healthy living by incorporating yoga and meditation into your daily routine. Begin by taking a look at the three benefits of daily yoga and meditation we expand upon below and refocusing on your health priorities.

Practicing Yoga and Meditating at Home Relieve Stress

Many of us feel as though we don’t have time to go to a gym, and trying to make the time before or after work to drive to the gym, join a class, shower, and get back to the office or house adds more stress rather than reducing it. But, with the right tools, you can practice yoga and meditate at home and maximize the stress-reducing power of both practices.

If you are a beginner, there are several simple yoga poses you can do at home in 15 minutes. When you begin yoga, you will increase your flexibility and become more comfortable in your body. Don’t worry about how you look doing the poses at first. Just do them to the best of your ability and spend time relaxing, flexing, and breathing. As you practice yoga regularly each day, you will increase your flexibility and find the poses become easier. Then, you’ll be ready for more advanced poses that you can do at home by following a yoga instructor via video, such as Yoga with Adriene on YouTube.

Meditating at home is another great way to relieve stress and refocus on your health priorities. In just a few minutes each day, you can find your inner peace, calm your mind, and reduce your stress. The great thing about meditation is that it does not require any equipment. The deep relaxation and tranquil mind you gain by meditating benefit you physically and emotionally and improve your overall health. When you meditate, you can bring your stress under control and tackle stressful situations more successfully. You also learn to manage your stress from the get-go when you meditate on a regular basis.

Practicing Yoga and Meditating Daily Helps You Re-prioritize

Because yoga and meditation go hand-in-hand, you benefit emotionally while you improve your physical fitness. Yoga often is used as a gateway to meditation, and when you focus on yoga, you calm your body, mind, and spirit. This aids in finding yourself and reconnecting to the things that matter most to you.

Indeed, yoga helps you meditate in such a way that you can rediscover yourself. If you have specific priorities, such as losing weight, staying on the path to addiction recovery, or putting your health and well-being first, yoga and meditation are a surefire path to self-discovery and staying on the journey to wellness. It is not easy to overcome food addiction or substance abuse and put your physical and emotional health first, but yoga and meditation center your thoughts and help you deal with the negative emotions that may stand in your way or impede your recovery. Looking inward is a key component of recovery because you need to be honest with yourself about your priorities and not lose sight of them. Yoga and meditation will help you do so on a daily basis.

Overall Health Benefits of Yoga and Meditation

Your overall health greatly depends on your physical and emotional well-being. Physically, yoga improves flexibility, strength, balance, and endurance. People often are surprised at how difficult yoga is when they try it the first time because they assume the practice simply involves stretching. Yoga also improves energy levels and helps people learn to cope with stress because of the amount of attention required for each pose; you concentrate on your body and breath and nothing else. It is this mindful meditation that accompanies each pose that relieves stress and improves mental health.

Other physical and mental health benefits of yoga and meditation include

Relief of chronic back pain
Reduced stress to enhance fertility
Reduced risk of heart disease
Easing of asthma symptoms

The benefits of yoga and meditation are numerous. If you make them a part of your daily routine, you will relieve stress, reprioritize to focus on health and recovery goals, and improve your overall health and well-being.

Image via Pixabay by Pexels

For a more extensive review of Yoga, go to this site: https://www.thecandidadiet.com/yoga-101/