Hatha Yoga: Benefits for Your Body and Soul
You have often heard the name Hatha Yoga. Hatha Yoga, which has become very popular especially lately, has many benefits for your body and self. What is Hatha Yoga and what benefits does it have that will promote your holistic well-being, help you get rid of stress and reduce our depression symptoms?
The popularity of yoga is increasing, especially today, when stress is felt intensely by individuals. Although there are many different types of yoga, finding the type of yoga that you will personally adapt to best, that will be best for your body and soul, and that will make you feel best while doing it, and starting with it will make your progress easier and faster.
Although each type of yoga has different poses and focuses on different parts of the body, most yoga styles are based on the same basic yoga poses. However, it is still very important that you decide correctly which type of yoga to choose. It is known that the foundations of Hatha Yoga, which means power in Sanskrit, date back to the 1st century according to breathing techniques and both Buddhist and Hindu texts. Hatha Yoga, which has been proven by research to be good for stress management and core muscles, is frequently preferred by individuals.
How Did Hatha Yoga Come About?
It emerged in India in the 15th century. Pradipika, written by Swatmarama in Sanskrit in the 15th century, is the handbook of Hatha Yoga and forms the foundations of Hatha Yoga.
Hatha Yoga, in Swatmarama’s own definition, is the process of purifying the body and mind for meditation. Hatha literally means strong, Hatha Yoga aims to align your skin, muscles and bones with breathing exercises by going deeper into asanas and postures. In Hatha Yoga, where auxiliary tools such as chairs, walls or blocks are used from time to time, the postures are deepened and the posture is stayed for perhaps a few minutes and the posture is examined in detail.
What is Hatha Yoga used for?
It has been scientifically proven that hatha yoga has many physical and psychological benefits. The main benefits of Hatha Yoga include reducing stress, improving sleep quality, relieving neck and back pain, strengthening flexibility and improving mental health.
Hatha Yoga is also great for increasing flexibility, increasing muscle strength, improving circulatory and cardio health, promoting better sleep, increasing individuals’ energy levels, reducing injuries, improving posture and resolving postural disorders, improving anxiety and depression, and helping with chronic pain. preferable.
Three Main Practices
Hatha Yoga, which includes most yoga styles and poses, can actually be defined as a general category. Hatha Yoga, which ensures harmony between the mind and body and enables the individual to reach a better state by uniting the mind and body at a common point, is a very old and deep-rooted system that includes asanas and breathing exercises, as we mentioned.
According to Neha Gothe, Director of the Exercise Psychology Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Hatha Yoga includes three main practices.
Postures (asanas), breathing techniques (Pranayama), and relaxation and meditation (dyana). By doing Hatha Yoga, you can learn ways to control your breathing and master correct meditation techniques with yoga postures.
Physical Benefits of Hatha Yoga
1) It strengthens your core muscles.
In Hatha Yoga, which consists of many different yoga postures, you can strengthen the core area consisting of the abdominal muscles, pelvis and back with many postures such as plank or fighter. Remember that it is very important to strengthen your core muscles and know your body so that your whole body can work in harmony. In addition, core muscles are important for the general function of your body. As the core muscles that balance overall body function become stronger, they can help prevent lower back pain, improve your balance, and reduce the likelihood of muscle injury.
Gothe says yoga can also be a good option for people who want to strengthen their core muscles but can’t do higher-intensity exercises like running or lifting weights.
Hatha Yoga strengthens your core muscles as it requires holding poses for long periods of time that activate muscles like your abs and glutes.
2) It helps you have a better sleep.
Practicing Hatha Yoga improves your sleep and helps increase your cortisol levels, a hormone linked to your sleep cycle. Low cortisol levels notify your body that it is time to sleep, so if you do yoga before going to bed, you can prepare your body for sleep and thus have a sound sleep thanks to Hatha Yoga.
3) It improves your depression symptoms.
Experts believe Hatha Yoga improves symptoms of depression. Because it acts on neurotransmitters in your brain, similar to antidepressants. GABA, the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, is the switch that holds all the control in your body. GABA, a combination of glutamic acid and aminobutyric acid that serve as fuel for the brain, helps transport nitrogen in your body. In fact, if the GABA level in your body is appropriate, it will have a muscle relaxant effect and make you feel less tense.
Doing yoga is good for you in every sense by affecting your nervous and endocrine systems, which control bodily functions such as hormone release and blood pressure changes.
Hatha Yoga, which requires deep concentration, helps you understand your body and the flow in your body better by deepening the postures. By encouraging your body to work properly, it stretches your fibers, your spine, accelerates your blood circulation, relieves your fatigue and energizes your body.