Yoga and Flexibility – Poses and Mechanisms

What’s Inside – 

• What is flexibility and now can yoga enhance it?
• Yoga poses to try 
• Want to stretch and strengthen with yoga? Hith Yoga is the place to go!

One of the most commonly cited benefits of yoga is its capacity to improve flexibility. However, this does not simply mean the ability to touch your toes or to engage in a full inversion (though those are pretty awesome as well). Flexibility is a basic requirement of the body, and it often follows a use-it or lose-it principle. Those who use to once do leg splits effortlessly but can now not go down even halfway may be well aware of what we are talking about. Flexibility needs to be continuously worked upon to ensure that our body remains in top shape. And with flexibility comes a more toned and shaped body, improved mobility, reduced risk of injuries, and reduced soreness post your workouts. Hence, be it engaging in some outdoor activity, doing household work, or simply preventing some nasty accidents in everyday life, flexibility is a very important marker of physical health and wellbeing.

Bend It Like Yogis – How Does Yoga Improve Flexibility

Yoga training as always been well-known for the holistic impact it has on mental and physical health, and flexibility is one particular physical benefit that yoga provides which you would be hard-pressed to find in other activities. Regular yoga training can help in improving flexibility in the following ways –

• Firstly, yoga training enables you to ensure that stretching is a part of your everyday workout. Almost all yoga poses employ some form of lengthening or the other, thus ensuring that you get a good stretch alongside the other benefits of yoga
• Yogic asanas target every – and we mean every – muscle of the body. A holistic yoga training session can help you lengthen and loosen from the head to the toes, hence ensuring that you improve your range of motion in all areas of the body. 
• Yoga also promotes a positive mind-body loop when it comes to flexibility and relaxation. When you stretch, you feel good, open, and positive, and as a result, you begin you feel better. And on the other hand, as you de-stress with yoga, you release the physical tension that you carry, often in your shoulders and neck, and thus allow your body to physically relax and give in to the stretch. 

Hence, regular yoga training means that alongside the other benefits of yoga, you also get to tap into flexibility, and improve your daily capacities. 

Yoga Poses to Try

If stretching and lengthening are on the agenda, here are some yoga poses to help you get started.

However, remember that many of these poses are feats of flexibility in themselves – begin slowly, modify, and work your way up to the poses as your range of motion increases. 

• Cat-Cow – This dynamic and fluid sequence can help you remove all the tension and kins from your back and shoulders, and improves the mobility of your shoulders, neck, and spine. Focus on your breath as you move, and engage in this sequence for up to a minute.

• Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend) – Get into your hamstrings and lower back with this deceptively easy looking yoga pose, which can also also help you tap into the other benefits of yoga training, such as increased calmness.

•  Dhanurasana (Bow Pose) – Give your shoulders, back, abdomen and legs – basically your entire body, yes – a good stretch with this more challenging pose of yoga training, which especially helps in stretching the muscles that are used for fitting. Be sure to use modifiers such as straps to help you learn the pose initially.

• Balsana (Child’s Pose) – A resting pose to help lengthen the spine and shoulders and open up the hip region, this pose also helps in relieving neck and back pain when the shoulders are provided adequate support. It is also an ideal pose to relax and de-stress.

• Malasana (Garland Pose) – Get deeper into your hips with this pose, which also stretches the back, ankles, and the groin region, and is helpful for getting a toned belly too. It might be difficult for you to touch your heels to the ground in the first go, so you can support them on a folded mat.

• Gomukhasana (Cow Pose) – Tap into the benefits of yoga and release all your stress and tension with this pose that stretches the shoulders, chest, and arms. Focus only on the upper body if you want to, or you can go to the full version and get into your ankles, hips and thighs as well.

Integrate these poses into your daily workout and practice them regularly, and you will begin to see the improvements in your range of mobility and flexibility.

Eager to Stretch and Strengthen? Do it With Hith Yoga

Want to learn more about yoga, but worried about what to do and how to do it safely? Why not learn from the most reputed experts of Delhi-NCR? Hith Yoga studio helps tailor your fitness and wellness journey so that you can achieve your goals and tap into the benefits of yoga in the most holistic way possible. Qualified experts, a variety of yogic schools, and features such as personal and corporate training classes and yoga retreat all come together at Hith Yoga to give you the best wellness experience. So join us today, and change the way you experience yoga!