By Shay Stewart & Kelly Diaz
Yoga & Meditation
According to the American Osteopathic Association, regular yoga and meditation practice creates mental clarity and calmness, increases body awareness, relieves chronic stress patterns, relaxes the mind, centers attention, and sharpens concentration. Yoga is also great exercise for the body. Yoga involves many physical stretches and poses, involves concentration, and deep breathing.
What is yoga?
Yoga is a form of exercise that focuses on flexibility, breathing, and strength building. The term ”yoga” means to ”join” which relates to the joining of the body and mind. Yoga attempts to create harmony between these two things. The physical poses of the body, breathing, and concentration help to link our bodies with our minds by focusing on our breathing patterns while carrying out a variety of positions and centering our attention on our body’s alignment and movement.
What is Meditation?
Meditation involves using a practice such as mindfulness to focus on a certain thought, object or activity while tuning out everything else. This helps you to lessen your focus on things that may be crowding your mind and promote improved emotional and physical wellbeing. Meditation provides a lot of similar benefits as yoga including helping with high blood pressure, chronic pain, heart disease, digestive orders, and several other conditions. When combined together, yoga and meditation provide a holistic (all encompassing) way of tending to your spiritual, emotional, and physical health.
Physical Benefits (American Osteopathic Association):
- protection from injury
- increased flexibility
- increased muscle strength and tone
- improved respiration, energy and vitality
- maintaining a balanced metabolism
- weight reduction
- cardio and circulatory health
- improved athletic performance
Examples:
Follow the link below to learn 5 new beginner yoga poses:
References:
American Association of Osteopathic Medicine. (n.d.). The benefits of yoga. https://osteopathic.org/what-is-osteopathic-medicine/benefits-of-yoga/
