Healing Benefits of Yoga

Recently there was a lot of talk about yoga and the downsides to it. I was a little...moved, shall we say, to defend it. What I didn't do, however, was tell you all the wonderful ways it heals your body. Let me start with my own personal experiences.

Photo Credit: theharekrishnamovement.wordpress.com

By the time I was 19 my body was pretty ticked off at me.

I had a fairly serious case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from my years of piano, sign language, and computer work at my job. Being so young and having to take Advil all the time for the pain was ridiculous and limiting in many ways. After every work day it felt like someone was trying to chop my hands off right where my wrists connected to my arms. It was horrible.

When I moved to the big ole city I signed up for this popular thing called yoga. I had no idea what to expect. After a few months of practicing not only was I hooked, but my wrists had stopped hurting entirely. Out of the blue one day it occurred to me that I hadn't had any pain for a while. It just kind of vanished. Even to this very day, I have no issues.

In addition to that, my right wrist was a little beat up from a fracture I had gotten when I was a kid. It didn't hurt, but it was weak. A month before my yoga teacher training program was to begin I tripped over some very stealthy air (aka nothing at all) and landed smack dab on my wrist, spraining it pretty tremendously. I was a disaster. I had no idea how I was going to get through six months of teacher training when I couldn't put any pressure on it. I went to my first night of class and talked to my teacher, Mary, who showed me exactly what I could do throughout the course to heal myself. And guess what? It worked. By the time my first module was done I had a bendable, yet durable, well healed wrist.

To top all of that off, I had some lingering back pain from my wild and crazy kid years. Back then I entertained myself by doing flips and stunts all over the house in some strange attempt at being a one person circus act. Along with that, I had been riding horses for years and my horse, a Paso Fino breed, had a very rough trot that left me a little rattled in the spine. By the time I was ten years old I had to go see a chiropractor to try and fix me up. My poor little body was just not strong enough for my daredevilish ways.

Now, all these years later, I don't have a single issue. My back is ridiculously strong, as are my wrists. I basically got a new, tougher body, all because of yoga. Which means you can too.

Yoga speeds the healing time of injuries, helps prevent former injuries from reoccurring, lengthens not only your spine, but your muscles, and helps you to regulate your breathing. It also acts as a detoxifier when certain poses are held, thus releasing toxins from your intestines. Additionally, it has been known to help tremendously with asthma as well as heart related issues.

Yoga is awesome, basically.

Next time you're thinking about trying something new, give yoga a chance. It's not as easy as it looks. You will definitely get a workout, but you'll also heal old injuries and prevent new ones from occurring. As I mentioned prior, all you need to do is make sure you have a really excellent teacher. The rest will take care of itself in your practice.

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