The Science of Yoga
OK who is sticking to their New Year’s Resolutions still? Anyone? For real, the whole idea of resolutions is admirable, but it turns out that most people do not actually stick with their resolutions for more than a few weeks. One of my resolutions was to try to do Yoga every day for 30 days, so I am smack in the middle of my 30 day Yoga challenge. To put this in some context, I have never done anything that even remotely resembles Yoga prior to this, and in fact, whenever someone would suggest that I do Yoga, my response was always the same, “What do you mean? You think I’m stressed or something?” delivered in a faux-anxious and irritable tone. But, people kept talking about how wonderful Yoga was, so, here I am.
I got curious about the science behind Yoga, because I’m always curious, especially about new things and especially about science, so I started scouring the Internet for copious (if not well-vetted) advice. Turns out there is a whole book about this! The Science of Yoga, available on Amazon (no, I have not read this yet, but I certainly plan to). But did you know that Yoga has been around in some form since the fifth or sixth century BC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga), and that 20 million people practice some form of Yoga today? That’s pretty popular.
So why is it so popular? Well, it turns out that scientists have confirmed that yoga has significant physical and mental health benefits. Check out some links: https://www.livescience.com/35129-yoga-increases-brain-function-bone-density.html and http://upliftconnect.com/the-science-behind-yoga/. Plus, with today’s technology, you can do yoga in the comfort of your own home simply by following some online videos. My personal favorite is Yoga with Adriene (http://yogawithadriene.com/), but try some out for yourself! Even the biggest skeptic (which I was), may turn out to like it!
