In honor of the International Day of Yoga (which happens annually on June 21st), today’s fitness guide shares expert advice about the mental and physical benefits of adding yoga poses into your daily routine. From stress-reduction and improved mental well-being to increased physical vitality and flexibility, here’s why 4 fitness experts encourage their clients to do yoga.
Yoga Helps Reduce Stress
Trish Welch, a personal trainer and fitness instructor at Sea Island says, “Flexibility is highly important, yet an undervalued component of health. Start stretching as soon as you wake, as well as before and after exercising.
Stress leads to over/under eating and poor sleep quality. Develop healthy stress reduction habits: Cardio exercise, yoga, meditation and quiet space.”
In her role at Sea Island – home to more PGA TOUR players than any other golf community – Welch helps the pros’ better halves stay in shape whether they’re at home in Georgia or on the tournament trail with their significant others. Her notable clients include Kim (Zach) Johnson and Amanda (Jonathan) Byrd.
Yoga Boosts Mental & Emotional Wellness
Dempsey Marks is a fitness expert, yoga instructor, and creator of the PreGame Fit fitness program. Marks says, “Incorporating yoga into your daily routine has mental and physical benefits. On a basic level, yoga will increase strength, endurance, and flexibility. But the benefits of a daily routine with yoga stem further than that. It can help lower blood pressure, relieve insomnia, aid in the treatment of anxiety and depression, and can help regulate your adrenal glands.”
Yoga Promotes Mental Clarity & Spiritual Growth
Andrea Woodhall is a Yoga Instructor & Fitness Trainer and the owner of Woodhall Wellness. She offers clients online wellness coaching, in-person holistic fitness and yoga training, and teaches both private sessions as well as large group sessions throughout the Monterey Peninsula in Northern California.
She says, “Beyond just the physical and mental, there are emotional and spiritual levels of the human psyche that are tapped into during our practice. The ritual, breath work, and physical stamina required help increase mental clarity. In addition, a consistent practice can slowly draw you closer to a deeper meaning in life. It requires focus and full attention, by turning awareness on to the self. It forces us to look deeper inside to find answers. We can also learn to let go and release by losing ourselves in the movement. This helps us become a much clearer, fine-tuned version of ourselves.”
Yoga Increases Flexibility & Physical Vitality
Dr. Carolyn Dean is a health pioneer with over 25 years of experience with, fitness, exercise, aging, diet and nutrition issues. She’s authored 30 books including Future Health Now Encyclopedia, The Complete Natural Guide to Women’s Health, and The Magnesium Miracle.
Dr. Dean says, “Daily activity is vital for your health. Our bodies thrive on activity, which means that sitting at a desk all day can cause problems. When we do not put all our joints through a normal range of motion, the various muscles supporting our joints will be stretched or shortened. For example, our gluteus muscles max, medius and minimus will be stretched as we sit all day and our thigh muscles will be shortened for the same reason. That’s why yoga is so helpful because it puts all our muscles through a proper range of motion. The side-effects of not engaging in activity every day are that your upper shoulders become rounded and lower back without the proper lumbar support we lose the lower curve in our spine which causes pressure on our vertebral discs, head. Our head juts forward looking at the computer all day, lengthening the muscles at the back of the neck and shortening them in the front leading to neck pain and headaches. Neck, arms, hands, wrists – tightening of forearms and carpal tunnel syndrome from improper typing position. Legs – shortening of anterior thigh muscles. ”
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