In this article you will find:
Sara’s PopFit videos that contain yoga exercises
Jennifer Aniston, blonde beauty icon, the star in FRIENDS series and many movies, along with her fantastic acting, she is a living proof that eating right, exercising and looking after your health are the secret to perpetual youth.
If you look at her pictures, her vitality, and her fitness, you cannot tell her age. 53 is her actual age. Jennifer takes great care of herself, and she spoke to Well and Good about her daily habits.
“If I’m working, I get up at 4:30, 5 am, otherwise between 8 and 9 am, because I stay up late at night. Usually when I wake up, I first make my own cup of hot water with a slice of Lemon”.
After that, she talked about her exercise routine. The most important part of her day, Jennifer goes to the gym and has a personal trainer, but her most important beauty secret is 40 minutes of morning yoga, which is a part that she cannot go without.
So can yoga really be a reason to keep your youth and vitality like her?
While modern media and advertisements may make us believe that yoga includes only physical postures, in reality it is greater than that. Yoga includes a wide range of meditative practices and self-control, such as meditation , prayers, breathing exercises, spiritual rituals, and others.
The word “yoga” comes from the word “yog”, which means “to bind”. The word itself has many meanings, from astrological conjunction to marriage, but the main theme here is connection.
One of the most interesting yoga facts is that it consists of “eight limbs”.
They all act as guidelines about life and how to live.
Each is designed to help you lead a life with purpose and meaning. The eight limbs are:
- Yamas (Prohibited).
- Niyama (ceremonies).
- Asana (postures).
- pranayama (breathing).
- Pratihara (withdrawal of the five senses).
- Dharana (focus).
- Ghana (meditation).
- Samadhi (grace).
Yoga originated 5,000 years ago, and was originally a form of physical and mental therapy.
Since it is a low-intensity form of physical activity, it is gentle on your muscles and joints and is a great way to exercise without the risk of bad injuries and pains.
And in detail, here are the most important benefits of yoga and why we recommend it.
Benefits of yoga:
Improve your mood and mental health:
The American Psychological Association recently shared news that 84% of American adults feel the negative psychological impact of long times of stress.So, it makes sense that the reason they practice yoga is to relieve stress. Fortunately, science supports that yoga, especially asana, is excellent at reducing stress and anxiety.
Endorphins are chemicals released from the brain during your yoga practice that promote a positive mood, and reduce stress after your workout.
But remember, physical practices are just one aspect of it. Meditation, breathing exercises, and auditory rituals have also been shown to significantly reduce stress.
Improve fitness and body flexibility:
In 2016, two of yoga’s leading organizations, Yoga Journal و Yoga Alliance ، conducted a global survey looking at a variety of statistics about yoga in an effort to determine its importance as its popularity increases.
The most cited reason people chose as a reason why they practiced yoga was to “increase flexibility.”
Yoga appears to be particularly helpful in improving flexibility of 65 year-old adults and older where reduced flexibility is a normal part of aging.
Increase your ability of balance:
by increasing both:
- Alignment: your body with the center of gravity.
- Strength: Yoga strengthens your muscles, which helps keep you in place.
- Attention: Helps you feel stable and focused in your step.
Yoga improves your quality of life:
The World Health Organization defines quality of life (QOL) as “an individual’s perception of their place in this life in the context of the culture, systems and values in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, and interests”.
Some of the factors affecting QOL quality of life are relationships, creativity, learning, health, and financial situation.
For decades, researchers have viewed QOL as an important predictor of how long people may live and the likelihood that patients will improve when they are treated from a chronic disease or injury, and a 2019 analysis showed the promising effect of yoga in improving the quality of life to people with chronic diseases.
Yoga boosts your immunity:
Chronic stress and anxiety negatively affect your immune system.And when your immunity weakens, you are more likely to get sick. As we told you earlier, yoga is a scientifically proven treatment for stress, it will positively affect your immunity.
The research is still developing, but some studies have found a clear association between practicing yoga (particularly in the long term) and improving the functioning of the immune system.
Yoga helps sleep:
Researchers check both a person’s ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. Insomnia can affect one or both of these aspects.
Yoga has been shown to reduce the time it takes you to fall asleep and increase the depth of your sleep. This is partly due to the post-workout, mental calming, and stress-relieving effects that yoga provides.
Help with migraine pain:
Migraines can cause blurry vision, slurred speaking, nausea, and the attacks may last from an hour to several days.
Although low levels of oxygen in the blood aren’t necessarily a cause of migraine headaches, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine, it can affect it.
Yoga is a form of physical activity where more blood flows through the body. This means that more oxygen will reach your brain. More blood and oxygen to the brain can help reduce pain as well as limit the duration of the attack.
And remember:
Yoga is not just stretching:
Both breathing and meditation are, as we told you before, essential aspects of yoga.
For example, there are breathing exercises where you have to focus on your breath, be aware of it and regulate your breathing rhythm as much as possible.
The basics of breathing yoga involve inhaling air slowly and deeply through the nose, holding the breath for a few seconds before releasing it by exhaling through the mouth.
And do not ignore the importance of meditation, as it increases your awareness about your body, and improves your ability to focus and maintain your calmness.
Often the best time to meditate, while doing yoga, is at the beginning and end of your practice. Yoga teachers end their classes with a short meditation to help everyone achieve a positive sense of relaxation and carry it with them after they leave.
According to the Yoga Basics website, The countries with the highest percentage of people who practice yoga daily are:
- Canada
- Singapore
- Australia
- Ireland
- United States of America
- India
Not only Jennifer, but there are many celebrities who talked about the positive impact of yoga on their lives, such as:
Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Halle Berry, Jessica Alba,Charlize Theron
and others..
Statistics say that there are more than 300 million people who practice yoga regularly, so why not be one of them?
You can watch many of Sara PopFit’s videos about yoga on YouTube and practice with her:
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