We all know that yoga does wonders for the mind. Even beginners report feeling increased mental stability and clarity during and after practice.
Since the 1970s, yoga and meditation have been studied as possible treatments for depression and anxiety.
By reducing perceived stress and anxiety, yoga appears to modulate stress response systems. This, in turn, decreases physiological arousal — for example, reducing the heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and easing respiration. There is also evidence that yoga practices help increase heart rate variability, an indicator of the body's ability to respond to stress more flexibly.
Also, one recent study by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School found that yoga was superior to some low impact physical activities ( like walking, for example ) in terms of lifting mood.
You become less reactive, less prone to jump off the handle or to be extremely emotional when life hits. Life will always hit. There are always going to be challenges. We're always going to have losses, disappointments and betrayals. There are sad moments in our lives. But we don't have to be rocked off balance.
What yoga teaches us, which walking or running doesn't, is that we can observe without reacting. We can feel emotions and sensations. We can clear the space. We can respond. But we don't have to react to it. So it creates that more meditative state.
