Feeling lethargic? Are your joints aching and sore? Yoga may be exactly what you need to help bring your body back to life and keep you feeling and looking young. 

This morning, I was doing my outdoor stretching, before work, and I began to ponder what my next blog post was going to be about. Then as I was in my butterfly pose, deep breathing in the crisp morning air, and watching my dogs wander through the yard it hit me. Yoga. What I was doing at that exact moment. It was perfect. 

Dancing in the Rain Blog is all about things that I believe wholeheartedly nourish my life and give my body relief. So why not talk about the things that I do regularly to keep me living a life of fulfillment and empowerment? Starting with Yoga.

Yoga is not a new or arbitrary concept it has truly been around since the dawn of time. Healers, Rulers, and common folk have used it to sustain health and wellness both physically and mentally. 

Despite not being a new concept and one that has been forever practiced in most cultures yoga is not (especially in the US) consistently or nationally practiced.  The slow nature of the practice is so often drowned out by the fast-paced and goal-oriented Western society we live in.

Taking even 15 minutes a day can often feel like too much when work, school, kids, and social events take up every waking minute of our lives. However, if you’re willing to give yourself 15 or more minutes to recenter and allow your body time you may forever be changed.

Learning to slow down for a minute is the hardest challenge many people face when trying to do yoga for the first time. The mind is often bogged down by the to-do list on our desk, kid's soccer practice, or our grocery list which is understandable and even okay. 

That way of thinking is often how we ensure that everything on our to-do list gets done; however, 15-30 minutes of the day spent not replaying that list in your head will allow your body and mind time to reconnect. It allows you a few minutes to check in with yourself to see how you are doing outside of everyone else. The dogs, spouse, kids, parents, and friends will all be there and can wait those simple 15 minutes.

In fact, they’ll be better off in the long run. Why? Well, when you take those minutes for yourself to ensure you have everything you need, then you can better help them to have what they need. As the saying goes, put on your face mask before helping others. 

So what are the benefits? Why are those 15 minutes potentially life-changing? How can they help that to-do list get done faster?

Strength, Balance, and Flexibility

Yoga has been proven to improve the body's overall strength, balance, and flexibility. Over time just 15 minutes a day can allow your body to move in ways it hasn’t been able to before or in ways it hasn’t in a very long time. 

Overall better mobility may even lead you to bring more different kinds of fitness back into your routine (if it isn’t already) such as walking or working out. Or it can simply allow you to stop groaning after getting up from the floor or being able to move around more smoothly. The low-impact nature of yoga ensures that you gain the added benefits of working out without the usual strain and muscle soreness of regular fitness exercise.

Heart and Overall Health

Yoga increases blood flow which helps lead to strength, balance, and flexibility along with better cardiovascular health. Yoga has been proven to increase blood flow and decrease inflammation, and cortisol levels. These three help to reduce the risk of cardiovascular issues and just overall better health. 

If you, like me, have a chronic illness(es), (or just simply aren’t feeling great) increased blood flow and decreasing inflammation and cortisol levels will help to decrease the symptoms of just about any illness. The constant joint and muscle pain, feeling fatigued, out of breath, dizziness, etc can be drastically decreased by Yoga.

**Practicing Yoga with chronic illness(es): I am diagnosed with 3 different autoimmune diseases including POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome). POTS is a disease that affects blood flow and therefore gives me symptoms such as increased heart rate and dizziness. An increase in blood flow from yoga helps to reduce a lot of my symptoms; however, like any chronic illness, it doesn’t take them away fully. I have bad days like everyone where my symptoms are worse and I’m able to do less. 

One of my favorite things about yoga is its low-impact and low-stress exercise so even when I have worse symptom days where I’m feeling extra dizzy, my heart rate is high, or any other myriad of symptoms I can still get in some form of exercise. Yoga not only helps make you flexible, but yoga itself is flexible, there are tons of different ways to change poses to make them versatile for ALL. There are modifications for all body types, flexibility levels, disabilities, etc. so on your best days and your worst (within reason) yoga is possible. 

Arthritis 

Even though Yoga won’t cure arthritis it has been said to decrease symptoms of arthritis when practiced consistently. The decrease in tender and swollen joints in arthritis patients is likely due to the increase in blood flow and light low-impact exercise of the muscles near the affected joints. 

Back Pain

If you’re suffering from back pain and sore back muscles yoga may be extremely helpful in easing the daily aches and pains. Yoga stretches the muscles and tendons that often become clenched and tight leading to back pain. Consistent stretching of these muscles and tendons can allow them to relax and ease the pain. 

**Although yoga can drastically improve mobility and lessen pain for those who suffer from back problems it is important to note that if the pain is more than light-moderate it may be prudent to be checked by a doctor to ensure there is nothing more going on. Additionally, if you’re diagnosed with a back problem then check with your doctor that yoga is ok before beginning the practice. 

Sleep 

It is proven that most consistent yoga practitioners report increased and deeper sleep due to yoga. Yoga helps create deeper and better sleep via many methods. Yoga increases blood flow, decreases stress and cortisol levels, decreases muscle aches, and focuses and deepens breathing all of which are factors leading to better sleep. 

They even have on many sights like YouTube and fitness sights such as Peloton different Yoga routines and poses that are best to do before bed to help settle the body down for sleep.

*Women can especially benefit from yoga due to women often experiencing worse overall sleep than men.  

Stress Management

In my opinion, stress management is the most vital reason that anyone should begin regularly practicing yoga. Incredibly high cortisol (stress hormone) levels in our society are becoming a serious issue. Drastically high constant stress is affecting our health through many facets including sleep meaning it is more important than ever to begin practicing techniques that help us manage our stress. 

Just 15 minutes a day can bring us back into our deep breathing and a more relaxed centered state of mind allowing us to be able to take on the day's tasks with a clearer head. Yoga has been proven to decrease cortisol levels and help us better handle our stress, during more high-stress situations. 

As I said earlier in the article, those 15 minutes will not only be helpful to you but, to those around you. You're helping those around you by becoming a calmer and more at ease person throughout the day no matter the situation. This is especially important when working in higher-stress jobs and when dealing with kids after a long work day when the patience level is already low. 

More Energy and Better Moods

Consistent practice of yoga can create a better overall mood and increase energy levels. This is likely due to many of the above factors such as good sleep, lower cortisol (stress), increased blood flow, and low-impact exercise (which is proven to release endorphins). The combination of all these things often just leads to an overall better everyday life. It also will often lead people to cleaner eating and other forms of exercise too.

After practicing yoga for a while my overall happiness and quality of life have drastically improved because of yoga, along with all the things that yoga has introduced to me too. The practice will truly in my opinion change your life.

Build Connections 

A large aspect of yoga that many people enjoy is the community. Yoga whether inside a class or in a Facebook group is a great community of people just looking to improve their health and wellness. As I said above yoga has brought many things into my life that bring me joy and wellness. Even though I am not big into yoga in class form, I love the strong empowered community that Yoga has built for me in my life. 

** I will say that if you are someone who enjoys more class-style workout environments, I highly recommend taking an hour-long class a week at your local yoga studio. Yoga classes led by an instructor are a great way to expand your community, make an appointment for yourself, and quickly begin feeling more confident in your yoga skills. 

In addition to bringing more connection with others, Yoga has more importantly, greatly strengthened my connection with myself. It has allowed me to routinely check in with myself and grow more confident in myself and my strength both mentally and emotionally. 

Starting Out

Depending on the level of fitness and health you are at right now in your journey different levels of poses and stretches will work. Remember that just because something is beginner-level doesn’t mean it isn’t as powerful. Simply starting and being consistent for yourself is where the power lies. Additionally, over time as you build in your strength, balance, and flexibility you will be able to integrate harder and more complex poses into your routine towards a more connected calm you. 

Additionally, even though I have been doing stretching in various forms and yoga for many years now, most of the poses in my routine to this day are “beginner” poses. Instead of beginner poses, I like to call them foundational poses because that is truly what they are. Foundational poses are the base and core from which all other poses stem. They like all things in life, create a base for building, that goes for things beyond yoga. 

Remember:

• Don’t feel discouraged if you can’t do a lot of poses that the professionals can do. Remember they are professionals it is quite literally their job to be able to do those complicated poses.

• When first starting, find a program or videos that work for you and follow them.

• Consider taking a class.

• Avoid buying anything super expensive. You don’t need anything expensive or fancy to do effective yoga (beyond a mat and maybe a block or two).

• Figure out what time of day works best for you then stick to it. (I prefer in the mornings to ground myself before I start my day. Other people I know love to use it to calm themselves before bed. It's up to what is best for you.)

• Get into a routine! **Most important part!!!

Quickly, you will grow in your skills and get one step closer to dancing in the rain.

Downward Dog!