Benefits of Yoga Practice
There are many benefits to practicing yoga. Below is a summary of scientific data collected by a wide variety of researchers who have studied yoga. The benefits are listed within five categories: Behavioral, Physical, Mental, Physiological and Personality.
Behavioral:
- Decreased weight
- Decreased nervousness
- Decreased health complaints
- Decreased physiological complaints
- Increased clinical assessment of psychiatric patients
Physical:
- Decreased muscular electrical activity
- Decreased reactivity to stressors
- Increased hand steadiness
- Increased flexibility
- Increased muscle tone
- Increased relaxation
- Increased fitness
Mental:
- Decreased mental fatigability
- Increased in concentration
- Increased memory
- Increased intelligence quotient
- Increased performance quotient
- Increased shift in sequence of ideas
Physiological:
- Decreased oxygen consumption
- Decreased respiratory rate
- Decreased systolic and diastolic blood pressure
- Decreased heart rate
- Increased EEG Alpha
- Increased respiratory efficiency and competence
- Increased chest expansion
- Increased lung capacity
- Increased breath-holding time
- Increased tidal volume
- Increased respiratory amplitude
- Increased cardiovascular efficiency and competence
- Increased peripheral blood flow
- Increased oxygen transport system
- Increased adrenocortical efficiency and competence
- Increased endocrine and metabolic competence
Personality:
- Decreased anxiety
- Decreased depression
- Decreased neuroticism
- Decreased defensiveness
- Decreased guilt
- Decreased tension and instability
- Decreased delay in responses
- Decreased hostility
- Decreased submissiveness
- Decreased self-criticism
- Increased conflict resolution
- Increased openness to experience
- Increased projective measures (number of responses)
- Increased self-concept
- Increased assertiveness and emotional stability in females
- Increased body image
- Increased interpersonal relationships
- Increased self-esteem
- Increased spiritual orientation
Reference: Structural Yoga Therapy (2000), Mukunda Stiles
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