Benefit From Yoga | 5,000 Years in the Making

I am asked all the time: “Do I have to do the Yoga routine of P90X to get results?” Well in my experience I would say YES. If you have done your research I’m sure you have found amazing success stories from people using P90X. And what most people don’t realize is the people with the absolute best results did not substitute the Yoga X workout. I wanted to just go over some key benefits to yoga and maybe open your mind to it.

Yoga is a technique that has been practiced for over 5000 years. Today, just about 11 million Americans take part in yoga and reap the rewards and benefits. Yoga classes generally focus on teaching physical poses, meditation techniques as well as breathing techniques. These are the key factors in determining how effective a yoga class will be. As you will see from the list of benefits below, there are more than enough reasons for you to consider including yoga as part of your fitness regime.

Strength – there are certain styles of yoga that are more rigorous and strenuous on the body than others. These types will help to strengthen practitioners and improve muscle tone overall. Muscles like the hamstrings, quadriceps and abdominals get really great workouts from certain yoga poses like standing poses.

Flexibility – this eventually comes to practitioners of yoga once they have consistently participated in the activity for a prolonged period. Flexibility really has nothing to do with one’s age or stage in life. Anybody can do flexible yoga poses if they spend enough time working at safely stretching their muscles. Yoga is known to stretch both the muscles as well as the soft tissues in your body like ligaments and tendons.

Breathing – yoga is very effective at improving the lung capacity. A lot of deep meditational breathing goes into yoga and the after-effect is more endurance and better lung capabilities. And not only does better breathing improve endurance but it also aids in quicker relaxation.

Posture – people often find that when they spend enough time attending yoga classes, their posture improves significantly. The main reason is because yoga focuses a lot on strengthening your core muscles, which automatically impacts your posture. People who do yoga end up sitting and standing more upright and are actually more conscious of their posture.

Stress – as you probably figured by now, practicing yoga leads to a less stressful and calmer life. First time yoga practitioners who do their first class will tell you how much more relaxed they feel at the end of it. Because a lot of meditation is tied in with some yoga styles, it effectively helps in getting the mind and body in a calm state. Basically, yoga helps to decrease certain hormones in the body that are produced in response to stress.

Health effects – many people believe that there are several health effects to practicing yoga. It is said by many to improve hypertension and reduce your risk for heart disease and stroke. It is all so said to benefit chronic medical conditions like arthritis and asthma. There are some people who have been able to combat those illnesses by getting involved in yoga classes on a consistent basis.

As you can see, the benefits of yoga are not only physical, but mental and spiritual. Your body, mind and spirit will all have a sense of healthiness, well-being and fitness if you expose yourself to becoming a practitioner of yoga.

Quick Note – If you still are having a hard time wrapping your mind or body around Yoga X, Tony Horton has a shorter routine you could implement. It’s Called “Yoga – Fountain of Youth” and it’s part of the One on One series. Get Your Copy here.

To Your Success,
Rob Humphrey
Beachbody Coach