Yoga is a discipline that encourages you to exert energy and maintain concentration. Like any other activity that requires focus, it involves your brain giving your body the momentum to self push. Have you noticed, however, that as you train your body, you in turn train your mind too? It has been noted in different studies that as while many people take up yoga for fitness, a majority do so to manage anxiety or various ailments that are as a result of or can be worsened by stress.
Illnesses such as depression, anxiety and IBS, heart disease and high blood pressure among others, can be managed with the assistance of yoga, alongside or aside from a medley of medications depending on the ailment.
How is this is possible? The practice of yoga focuses on, or allows you access, higher levels of GABA in your brain. What is GABA? It is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in your brain that promotes calm and relaxation. It keeps you from becoming overactive which as a result improves sleep and lowers anxiety.
Yoga asanas such as Sirsasana, Uttanasana, Adho Mukha Svanasana, and others, are extremely effective in nourishing brain tissue with proper blood circulation in the uppermost region of the body.
Despite the fact that majority of yogis swear by the benefits, it has not fully been proven exactly how yoga, coupled with meditative practices, can achieve these results. However, one dominant notion credits the increase in the levels of dopamine and serotonin during practice - which may cause positive drastic chemical changes in ones brain and body.
All in all, yoga eases your mind and provides you with the peace you need to get through the hustle and bustle of your day to day life.