Benefits You May Notice When You Start Taking Yoga Classes

Starting up an exercise routine after you've been sedentary for a long time can be a little scary. You may worry about being out of shape and at an increased risk of injury. One way to break into fitness gently is to take yoga classes. Yoga improves your physical fitness while being supportive of your mood so you don't give up before you see results. Here are some benefits you can expect from taking a yoga class.

You'll Increase Flexibility

The yoga poses you learn stretch your body in a fun and interesting way that goes beyond simple stretching exercises. The poses help with your balance as well, which is important as you age. Yoga poses also help balance out your body to overcome problems caused by strong muscles that pull weak ones out of balance. Yoga is a whole-body exercise that improves your flexibility which can have far-reaching effects on your posture, balance, mobility, and pain levels.

Your Circulation Is Improved

Exercise in general increases circulation as your heart pumps faster and harder when you exert yourself. This effect combined with the various poses you do in yoga is beneficial to improving blood flow to various parts of your body. Many poses are done with the head down, such as headstands. You may not have other opportunities to lower your head to increase blood flow to the skin on your face. Other poses increase blood flow to the hands or spine. Increased blood flow also increases oxygenation especially if you're deep breathing at the same time. This might help with pain relief, healing, and relaxation.

Your Muscles Get Stronger

You'll start with beginner poses that are easy to master but as the classes become more advanced, you'll learn yoga poses that challenge your muscles. Your muscles will become stronger in a functional way to support your body while you hold specific poses. If you hate the idea of lifting weights or doing calisthenics, then yoga might be the ideal way for you to gain muscle. You can find a yoga class that's a perfect match for your fitness level and desired intensity so your body is pushed to its limits if that is your goal. Even if you prefer a slower and more gentle yoga class, the fluid movements and poses require muscle control that works to strengthen your muscles in a natural way.

You'll Have A Sense Of Accomplishment

Yoga is a discipline that requires you to learn new things and develop new habits. Sticking with a yoga class may help your self-confidence and leave you with a sense of accomplishment for learning the poses and controlling your body. Yoga is always evolving. Unlike traditional exercise that has a few moves you repeat in ever increasing numbers, yoga has increasing difficulty of poses for you to learn so you never get bored and you're always challenging your body to do more. This can help you develop a new attitude toward exercise so you view it as something that makes you better rather than drudgery you escape if at all possible.