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Five Fun Facts For Aspiring Yoga Practitioners

Five Fun Facts For Aspiring Yoga Practitioners

  1. Yoga originated in Northern India over 5,000 years ago and may have been taught to boys to help them with their transition into manhood. As it developed, it was also performed to groups of people as a source of popular entertainment.
  2. The name 'yoga' is derived from a Sanskrit word, meaning 'to join' or 'to unite' and the practice developed long before the first religions were born, so yoga does not adhere to any particular belief system or community. It has always been approached as a technology for inner wellbeing. Anyone who practises yoga can profit from its many benefits, both physical and mental, regardless of their faith, ethnicity or culture.
  3. If only I had a dollar for every time someone told me, “You need to be flexible to practise yoga”! In fact, when you’re starting out, it’s better not to be particularly flexible, as you are less likely to collapse and sink into your joints, causing injury. This can sometimes become an issue with hyper-mobile people. Yoga is a full body/ mind workout, where we focus on increasing a safe range of motion for your body, with equal amounts of strength training to support your joints.
  4. "The pose you hate the most is the pose you need the most". Yoga has this great way of holding up a mirror to reflect what’s currently going on in your life. So, notice what poses you are avoiding, notice what areas need more accountability, and shift your perspective. That saying ‘you’re only as strong as the weakest member in your team’ also applies to your yoga practice. By working on your weaker areas, you help to accelerate your progress as a yoga practitioner. These principles and perspectives will then start to spill out into other areas of your life.
  5. Yoga is an effective remedy for anxiety and depression. It also helps with conditions like insomnia and restless leg syndrome, as well as increasing your work productivity and focus. Yoga slows down your breathing, calms the nervous system and lowers your body’s level of cortisol, a hormone that is generated in response to stress. You can notice a difference within minutes, and adding yoga to your weekly routine 2-3 times a week can have lasting positive effects on your overall health and wellbeing.
Based on a blog by Nadia from Fitness4Less Southwark and her colleague, Cody Cianfagna, founder of the Australian yoga retreats company, Earthpulls.


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