The desire to live a balanced life that is harmony with the world and everything around us is innate in everyone. The many demands in our modern lifestyles, however, often leave us feeling disconnected and out of touch with the world around us. The fast pace of contemporary culture has the tendency to cause both mental and physical tension, filling us with stress and anxiety and leaving us depleted. These strains on our senses have potential to quickly break down our immune systems and bring imbalance to our entire system. It is important then to embrace the methods that will help us to both attain and maintain positive states of well-being that keep us in accord with ourselves and the world around us.
For thousands of years, yoga has been doing just that and works by harmonizing mind, body, and soul. Incorporating a daily yoga practice into life will bring you back to touch with the natural rhythms that are often lost in our modern world, as well as help you greater cope with everyday problems, troubles, and concerns, and setbacks. Meaning “to unite” or “be made whole”, yoga integrates a holistic approach to bringing us back to touch to our true selves and the supreme divinity that lives within us all. Incorporating yoga into your daily life will literally change your life.
5 Benefits of Practicing Yoga Everyday
1. Greater Awareness and Peace of Mind
A daily yoga routine leads to greater awareness and peace of mind.
When you embody a daily yoga practice you will find you begin to perceive the world around you with greater awareness. The deep, meditative breathing approaches found in yoga will induce a shift from the chaotic world around you to a deeper stillness within that leads to a greater awareness of that which surrounds your daily life. Rather than thoughts racing incessantly through your mind, quickly shifting from past to future events, you will find greater awareness in the present moment. When we shift our awareness to the present, we can obliterate the thoughts that often put us in a negative state of mind and cause unnecessary stress.
With greater awareness of the present moment comes an increased sense of peace of mind. When we live in the relaxed state of being that is often found through greater awareness, the way we think begins to change. Rather than our thoughts full of worry and disdain, we tend to focus on positive things and think happier thoughts. With a daily yoga practice, the mind becomes still and helps us glide gracefully through the often chaotic energy of everyday life.
2. Greater Focus on Healthy Eating
Our physical vitality is in direct correlation to our mental well-being and a daily yoga practice is excellent for the maintenance of both. The practice of yoga invariably influences a concentration on better nutrition, and when you incorporate a daily yoga practice into your life, you will find that you become more mindful of what you eat.
The increased awareness of the world around you that comes with practicing yoga daily brings this awareness to all aspects of your life, and a focus on healthy eating is exemplified. When you begin to feel prana, the cosmic life force, surge within you through your yoga practice, you will feel naturally inclined to nourish yourself with a diet of pure, wholesome foods. Your body will crave foods that are high in vitamins and minerals such as whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, seeds, nuts, and natural sweeteners such as honey or agave.
What you eat really does have a huge impact on your mental and emotional states, and a daily yoga practice will bring balance to the whole of mind, body, and soul. Your daily practice of yoga will lead to making healthier food choices in those that nourish, calm, and purify the mind.
3. Increased Energy and Physical Strength
The copious demands of daily life can leave one feeling exhausted. Incorporating yoga into your daily routine will leave you with the energy you need to take on anything that might come your way. Beginning or ending your busy day with as little as a 10-minute yoga routine will increase energy and give you a fresh take on the world around you.
The deep breathing that is part of any yoga practice stimulates the nervous system and helps increase oxygen that your body desperately needs to produce energy. A daily yoga practice consists of warm up poses that help to get body heat circulating which in turn releases toxins. The release of these toxins brings life to the energy that lies dormant in the body without exercise.
Vinyasa Ashtanga Yoga is one type of yoga that is sure to increase energy levels through its concentrated flow of specific asanas synchronized with different breathing techniques. A dramatic increase in well-being and energy is felt from this form of yoga, and strength, stamina, and balance are all greatly enhanced. Power Yoga is based on this specific type of yoga, and is an excellent discipline to fit into your daily routine a couple times a week.
4. An Improved Relationship with Yourself and Others
The balance of mind, body, and soul will have a direct effect of your balance in relation to yourself and others. Through a daily practice of yoga, you will find a deeper awareness of yourself and your true nature. Self-criticism and feelings of anxiety begin to quickly slip away when you become more in tune to your natural rhythms, and through this you are led to a place within of self-acceptance and inner peace.
Yoga works to keep the mind healthy and in a state that is less prone to stress and negative thinking. A healthy mind is one that is more apt to relate better to the relationships it encounters. You will find relationships that are already positive to take on more exemplified meaning, while also noticing you are better adept to deal with sensitive relationships that may be strained or unstable.
Ananda Yoga is an excellent practice to incorporate as part of your daily routine and will undoubtedly help in the quality of your relationships. Ananda means “bliss” or “divine happiness” and helps to control the subtle energies within. Practice of ananda yoga will help harmonize the mind, body, and emotions and leave you feeling greater personal and interpersonal power.
5. Deeper Quality of Life
Known as the “supreme secret of life”, a daily practice of yoga offers an immense shift in the quality of one’s life. Through concentrated breathing and attention to various postures every day, one begins to feel a deeper quality of life and a deeper awareness of compassion and love for all that surrounds them. Combining various techniques of yoga into a daily practice will literally change your life, and you will find life to take on an entirely new meaning when you are dedicated to your practice every day. Your relationships to yourself, your health, those around you, and the world at large will be enhanced with deeper meaning and a fresh perspective each day.
Incorporating a Daily Routine into Your Life
With the numerous benefits offered by a daily yoga routine, it is important to ground this intention into our daily life. When we commit to a daily practice we are able to touch upon truth rather than focus on any of the numerous distractions we are met with each day. Our lives become quieter somehow, even if nothing outside our selves has changed. Keep the following things in mind when committing to an everyday practice and you will soon find yourself in the midst of a beautiful mind.
Know Your Limits
When starting to practice every day, make sure to know your limits. Remember that even 10 minutes each day of various sequences is beneficial in itself. Don’t go in headstrong with the intention to practice an hour every day just to end up feeling guilty when you don’t want to meet these demands. Yoga is meant to enhance your life, not make it harder, and knowing your limits and how much your body can take each day will only benefit your practice.
Add Variety
Doing the same thing every day gets boring. In order to keep your daily yoga routine fresh and exciting, add variety to what you’re doing each day so you don’t get burned out. Take your yoga outside and explore different places in nature you can practice your routine. Even if you live in the midst of a large urban area, a city park offers an excellent place to get your yoga on somewhere new.
Add variety to the different forms of yoga you are doing as well. Depending on your mood, there are many different techniques you can try. One day you may feel you need the gentle calm of a Kripalu yoga session, while the next you may need a pick-up with some invigorating Kundalini yoga.
Learn New Things
Learning new things is half the fun of a dedicated daily practice. With a daily practice comes increased movement and balance and you will find that new poses become easier with each day that passes. The headstand that seemed impossible when you started your daily routine will quickly come with ease as your balance and core strength dramatically improve. With daily practice comes the confidence and drive to learn new things both on and off the mat.
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