For thousands of years, yogis have been touting yoga’s mental and physical powers. Luckily, you don’t have to be an expert to reap the benefits — adding just a few yoga poses to your daily routine can help your daily health in all kinds of unexpected ways.
“On a physical level, yoga helps improve flexibility, strength, balance, and endurance,” says Linda Schlamadinger McGrath, the founder of YogaSource Los Gatos in Los Gatos, California, who is certified by Yoga Alliance, the world’s largest nonprofit yoga association that certify teachers and schools. “And on a psychological level, yoga can help you cultivate mindfulness as you shift your awareness to the sensations, thoughts, and emotions that accompany a given pose or exercise.”
And there’s also a growing body of science showing that a regular yoga practice may benefit people with a host of chronic health conditions, including asthma, heart disease, and multiple sclerosis (MS). That literature is not as established as the practice of yoga itself, but a lot of work has been done. Here’s what we know.
