Your practice on the mat transforms your function off the mat in these three ways:

Yoga Makes You Happy

Your body needs exercise. If you are feeling bad, the emotions you are experiencing may appear in the form of a mental problem, but will most likely manifest into a physical problem. In yoga, we often say, “breathe into the area of pain.” Understanding that emotions are felt on a physical plain alongside a mental one gives us an opportunity to release a lot of tension. Motion discharges emotion. Therefore, when we move, we emote. If we emote and we don’t move, we get uncomfortable.

Yoga exercises the body and gives the brain a break. Your brain controls your body. However, your body can also control your brain. Mind and Body says in this article,

“Engaging in exercise can reduce anxiety and depression, improve mood, boost self esteem, minimize stress, and enhance cognitive functioning.”

Muscles and joints need to experience their full range of movement to stay healthy. If they don’t move, they become stagnant. Paired with the mounting stress of an abnormally busy lifestyle, we find ourselves in desperate need of relief. How can we find fast relief from stress? The answer is yoga. Yoga requires zero equipment, is easy to do at home, and benefits your health when practiced in fairly short intervals. Not motivated to practice at home? Try a 30 minute flow with us at Pint and Pose Sunday mornings, 10am @ Pint and Plow Brewing Co. Cost is $10 and includes a free drink. Nama’STAY and chat afterwards with like minded members of the Kerrville community.

2. You Accomplish a Lot with a Little Yoga

You do not need to practice 104 rounds of Sun Salutations every day and twice on Sundays to reap the benefits of the poses. Ten minutes a day is perfect. 30 minutes once every Sunday will do. Start small with an attainable goal for yourself. Our friends at Gaiam yoga submit this way to be healthier when they say,

“Starting with small, painless changes helps establish the mentality that healthy change is not necessarily painful change. It's easy to build from here by adding more healthy substitutions.”

Grab your diary, schedule a time to practice with us this Sunday! Join a group class at Good Life Fitness Center or The Center for Fitness, Kerrville. Take your practice home with you and make it a routine, first thing when you wake up, or right between brushing your teeth and going to bed. One of my favorite ways to practice yoga is sitting on my pillow before I lay down to read or sleep. A few seated forward bends and reclining poses can calm the nerves and help you get a good night’s rest. When you sleep better, you think better.

3. Get Out of Your Feelings and into the Groove

As someone who has suffered from anxiety and depression, I can say that sleep drives my mood. If I don’t get enough sleep, my routine suffers. If I sleep really well, I wake up refreshed, have energy to connect, and am willing to work out. When I work out, then my attitude boost goes through the roof. Harvard Health suggests,

“The scientific study of yoga demonstrates that mental and physical health are not just closely allied, but are essentially equivalent.”

I don’t know the exact science behind it, but I can feel the natural chemicals kick in after I practice my yoga, go for a walk, or rehearse a singing meditation. Yoga means union. Unite your mind with your body.

If you are having a problem with an idea, person, or project, you will feel it on a both a mental and a physical level. If you can work out your physical body, you can take a step back from the negative space that those thoughts created in your head. Once you find what feels good, you can return to an inner state of peace. Your mind will come up with many different stories as to why you shouldn’t go try some yoga. You have to just move into it! There is no way to reason yourself into a good mood. You got to move it - move it!

So, come move it with me! Pint and Pose Sunday @ 10am! $10 cash or Venmo.

Namaste <3