How Yoga Can Improve Your Flexibility
It’s hard to get into exercise. Especially when lockdown has showered us with Instagram posts and TikToks about staying super-healthy, gaining abs, or getting into detox smoothies (which, if it’s a meal replacement, are never a good option anyway). Throughout the pandemic, though, the only useful thing that has come of it is a chance for us all to stop and rest.
The Misconceptions
So, the last thing I want to do is be exactly like those Instagrammers who are showing off their fitness tips and ‘summer’ bodies. The facts are that yoga can be super beneficial in so many ways. What I cannot reiterate enough is the practice of such exercise to be reserved for the upper class, older ladies, or, even, hippies. It is for everyone, regardless of who you are or, indeed, the number of wrinkles on your face. In addition, yoga is not reserved for practice in a certain type of home or environment, either. Whether you live in a newly built ground-up multifamily construction, the top floor of a block of flats, or a mansion, yoga is for anybody who simply has enough space to lie flat on the ground.
Flexibility and Balance
To start, then, one of the many things that yoga can bring is that feeling of catharsis. When you first start following along with a youtube video, nearly every instructor says the obligatory ‘don’t worry if you can’t… just yet’. Missing in that sentence is whatever each instructor tries to promote their channel aids, like touching your toes, completing backbends, or making your heels stretch to the ground when doing a downward dog. In short, yoga provides that feeling of accomplishment. Whatsmore, that accomplishment is fueled by you, and you only, which only makes it more worthwhile.
Filtering on from that desired catharsis, you will find that your general day-to-day flexibility will improve. By this, I mean that you will be able to do things that you couldn’t normally do. Often, it will be pointed out by a friend, but, when the glass shatters, wow, it’s a good feeling. For example, when you have to sit down cross-legged at the start of every practice, or, in day to day life, with children or to pick something up, you may find your feet go further in, or your legs can actually make that ‘v’ shape you used to be able to do without even thinking as a child.
Evidence
In terms of scientific evidence, there’s a lot. More and more scientists are now claiming their support in the positive correlation between yoga and general wellbeing. One such study is when a group of 26 college athletes tried yoga for 10 weeks. They found that their overall flexibility had improved, as well as small changes to their balance in comparison to the control group.
Conclusion
So, in conclusion, yoga prepares you for old age, whilst providing benefits for your body in the present. Yoga can keep you nimble, flexible, and is a way to connect your heart to your head.
