top of page

8 Smart Reasons You Should Start Doing 12 Min. of Yoga / Day

The thought of taking a moment to wind down in our fast paced world, for even 12 minutes, is kind of scary. We might miss out on something! But the benefits of just that small amount of time, are amazing. And even though the first time, its hard to get yourself to start, you will love it and want to do it all the time once you see how relaxed and great you feel after. And then your mind is calm and focused, you can concentrate on your busy life better. Practicing yoga everyday, makes me feel astounding. My body feels more free. The tension, I honestly didn't know was there, dissipates. My mind is suddenly more open, and in the present. I feel happier. I sleep better. My chronic back problems are seriously gone. Doctors couldn't fix that! And I just do basic yoga, 10, maybe 17 minutes tops, a day when I felt like it. Never went to a class. Just did what felt right to me and looked stuff up on-line. You know your body. Never do anything that feels uncomfortable. Do whats natural and gives you nice stretches and makes you go AHHHHHH, YEEEEEEES, I LOOVE IT, MY BODY IS MY HOME AGAIN.

1. First, and most obvious, it eases your mind. Yoga centers you and brings you to the only here and now. Over time your brain will get calmer and calmer in these moments, until you will have no chatter. It will relieve anxiety and worry, as you focus only on these movements and how your body and breathe relates to them. This will leave you with a clear mind afterwards, ready to focus on life, without all that monkey-brain. And you will be able to use these techniques all the time, even when you aren't doing yoga. And yoga UNLEASHES GABA neurotransmitters, aka the “chill out” transmitter. In a German study, 24 women who described themselves as who deviated from the norm on test measures of stress, depression and anxiety, took two 90-minute yoga classes a week for three months. At the end of three months, women in the yoga group reported improvements in perceived stress, depression, anxiety, energy, fatigue, and well-being. Depression scores improved by 50%, anxiety scores by 30%, and overall well-being scores by 65%. I do yoga for 15 minutes a day, and I can say I saw great results after even the first day, but especially after a week.

I actually did take one yoga class in rehab, and this girl was just like "I have to fart everyone", and just let one RIIIIIIIP.

2. Improve/completely relieve back pain. It completely relieved my life-long chronic back pain due to scoliosis – as long as I keep up with it. Like a daily pill. But healthier. A study used 313 adults with recurrent low back pain, and half of the group underwent a 12 week yoga program while the other half used usual low back pain care for 12 months. According to the authors of the study, “The benefits of yoga may be greater than those of exercise alone, because yoga offers a combination of physical exercise with mental focus, and patients are taught good posture, self-awareness, and self-care along with relaxation.” The 12 week yoga programs created improvements not only in back pain, but also in back function. Whaaaaat??? Get on this shit, now. Here are some poses, specifically for lower back.

Funny, not funny.

3. Help relieve depression/ generally improve mood. As mentioned earlier, it really helped with mine. It brings the physical factor and the mental factor together to really get those endorphins and that dopamine and serotonin going! And it coaches you on how to handle stress. And it teaches you practical things to use, like breathing techniques, and how to focus your mind. But most importantly, it alters your brains chemicals. Yoga has been found to be better than walking and normal excerising at doing this, because it uses brain and body. Yoga increases levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that acts like fertilizer for the brain, stimulating the formation of new brain cells. BDNF has natural anti-depressant effects. And it even helps areas of your brain grow! Like your pre- frontal cortex, responsible for decision making!

4. It Alleviates all these millions of tiny pockets of extreme tension you didn’t even know were there. We hold our bodies naturally so tense at times. Look at you now, how you are holding yourself. Pay attention to how all of your body really feels, in its deepest muscles. You know how tense your facial muscles get starring at a computer screen? These little habits lead to chronic tension, muscle fatigue, and soreness, which cause stress and worsen your mood. The more you practice yoga, the more you will notice the places that you hold your tension. Then you can tune in, and care for those spots. I hold a lot of tension around my eyes due to poor eye-sight. You feel so much more relaxed, and healthier, with that weight lifted off of you.

You can be as happy as this woman.

5. Deeper, better sleep. I know I get great sleep when I am on my yoga routine. It provides downtime for your nervous system, and that natural relaxation helps later in your sleep cycle. Here is some great info on how yoga helps sleep.

And here are some poses, specifically for that.

You can find some seriously bizarre stuff on google. Speaking of detoxifying your body...

6. Naturally detoxify your body. We have so many toxins that enter our body daily. Caffeine, chemicals from foods, cleaning products, perfumes, the air, plastic food containers and water bottles, cosmetics, fabric softeners, by God, the list is endless! Yoga allows you to release these toxins. It improves your circulation, regulates your digestion, and stimulates your lymphatic system. This all supports natural detoxification. Here some poses specifically for detox, though they require a bit more advanced balance.

We are though!

7. See yourself grow. It is great when you finally can get that pose you use to be wobbly on or couldn’t stretch into! And you just naturally slowly ease your way into it, little by little! Learn your body. Be one with yourself! You know, all that hippie stuff ;-)

It looks right to me! Even kind of advanced.

8. Then there are TONS of health benefits, that I’m not even getting into. From weight loss, to building muscle, to maintaining your nervous system, and better skin, why aren’t we all doing yoga right now?!

If you are thinking about starting, just google some poses! I’ll be doing two more posts coming soon. One on yoga tips for beginners, and another on great starting moves.

And remember, yoga is all about your breathe! Switch back and forth breathing in and out, between cat and cow pose. It feels great.

This is one of my favorites, although slightly harder, but I bet you could do it.

Save

Save

Featured Posts
Recent Posts
Search By Tags
No tags yet.
Follow Me
  • Facebook Clean
  • Twitter Clean
  • Instagram Clean
  • White YouTube Icon
  • RSS Clean
bottom of page