Yoga for health benefits

Ostensibly, yoga gives suppleness to body and positive attitude to mind. Well, that’s okay, but does it also give some medical benefits as well? Can it cure or prevent health problems? These are pertinent questions for any yoga beginner. Most of the people who join yoga are either looking for perfect body or want to cure some health problem. For the second set of people it is a reasonable thing to ask. Why should someone waste time on yoga if it does not provide any health benefits? The answer is here. Yes, yoga does provide health benefits and that too without drugs! Of course do not expect miracles overnight. Yoga demands time and effort and guarantees good health.

 By the time a person reaches forty, he or she has considerable health problems to deal with. Some have minor ailments like backaches and sinus and others are suffering from major ones like problems of heart, asthma, arthritis and the like. One reason which is often given for these problems is, that it is normal wear and tear of the body and thus unavoidable. Only way to tackle it is to pop that magic pill. As a result most of the people over forty are on medication of some kind.

 Yoga is known for therapeutic advantages and numerous cases have been documented where the doctors had given up but yoga cured the patient. As yoga means union of body, mind and soul, it tries to address the health issues at a deeper level – focuses on root of the problem rather than on the symptoms. Though people find it hard to believe, but the fact remains that our health is directly related to our thoughts, our belief system and our emotional responses to external stimuli. Just as a thought of a lemon can bring saliva to mouth, many other thoughts trigger chemical reactions in the body which can either cure or harm the body. Stress hormones secreted over a long period of time cause heart problems. Most of the diseases are psycho-somatic in nature. Anger can and does lead to heart problems. Anxiety can cause itching. Yoga does more than provide a temporary relief it takes you to a point when you don’t have any anger left in you. You are changed person far more composed, balanced and reasonable. These factors also help you age slowly. Most of the aging symptoms are reversed in yoga

The two most common factors of aging are stress and deoxygenating. Age robs a person of his suppleness and his ability to cope with external environment. Lack of strength of limbs and lower immunity levels make him week and vulnerable to diseases. On visible front, sagging skin and rather slower movement define an old man. The reasons are not that it had to happen this way. Some people age fast some while others are able to slow down the process considerably. The reason for this at cell level is that dying cells are not being replaced by the healthy ones for the lack of nourishment. Oxygenated blood does not reach these starved cells and these cells are unable to replicate them. Clogged arteries, lesser intake of oxygen and disrupted nervous system are some of the common reason for such a state.

Most of the people who suffer premature aging are either living in stressful conditions or do not get enough physical exercise to let their cells breathe. In other words, oxygen does not reach them so they are unable to rejuvenate them. On a physical level, yoga address this by supplying more oxygenated blood to oxygen starved cells. The simple technique is depriving the region of blood for some time so that after releasing blood rushes with even greater force to that region. It is just like pressing a thumb against another and then releasing it. The thumb is red with blood!

Yoga exercises are tailored in such a fashion that   the internal parts of the body heart, kidney, and liver lungs are supplied an extra shot of oxygen which gives these organs enough nourishment to rejuvenate. The yogis who join yoga for health benefits must give more emphasis on ‘pranayam’ rather than ‘asanas’, that is they should practice breathing exercise more than the stretch exercises and the results are bound to show up with time.