Yoga for positivity | How yoga is crucial in daily life?

Yoga for positivity introduces peace to our thoughts. Regular practice yoga provides strength, awareness & harmony in both body and mind, which further helps concentration. It also helps to silence and read our minds.

Although we have an international yoga day, celebrated with great zeal and zest all over the world. However, yoga is slightly more valuable when practiced every day than a single day. It is not merely a practice for one day, but it’s part of our routine. 

Yoga practice in daily life

Yoga has been part of our life since ancient times and plays an immense role in healthy living. From rishis (sages) to kings, from younger to elder, everyone practiced yoga in one way or the other. 

According to maharishi Patanjali, yoga practices calm our minds & bring positivity to our life. It also promotes serenity & evenness. It is not just a physical activity to pursue. But a practice with greater scientific terminologies to help & strengthen our mind at a minute and powerful level. 

Unlike other physical activities, yoga is supposed to unite the self with the supreme (God). Also, Shankaracharya mentioned it as withdrawal of sense organs from worldly objects & their control.

Several beliefs describe the importance of yoga in their way and language. However, every position we sit, every stretching practice, every form of breathing is one or the other form of yoga. 

So, logically it doesn’t have anything to do with religion. Besides health benefits, yoga also offers excellence in your work. Yoga practice relaxes our body and creates a healthy state of mind.

Nowadays, several individuals suffer from anxiety, stress, sadness, and self-doubt. And it affects both their physical and mental health. For children, yoga could teach them to handle such activities earlier in life, healthily and positively. 

Yoga benefits also add positive thinking & affirmations that lead to self-awareness and emotional and mental well-being (resilience). Try some beautiful & simple yoga practices for every age group to promote healthy and positive development.

1. Meditation

Teach children to meditate to help them think positively. Moreover, it removes shifting thoughts & helps our mind concentrate. 

Accurately such practices also promote qualities like kindness, forgiveness, self-acceptance & coordination between the body & mind. 

Moreover, it reduces stress, improves the immune system & cardiovascular fitness. Thus, meditation prevents negative thoughts and promotes positive vibes that encourage them to live happily.

• Sit comfortably on a mat in a ventilated room or a garden.
• Relax your body and straighten your spine.
• Now close your eyes and repeat an affirmation or the sound of Om. Either of them would affect your brain positively.
• Also, it is good to let your children develop good habits using affirmations you tell them.

An 8-week study on mindful-meditation training indicates that meditation practices relieve the effects of inflammation due to stress. Thus, it promotes the healthy growth of the mind.

2. Practice yoga asanas

A healthy mind lies in a healthy body. That’s why it is necessary to practice any physical exercise a day. Yoga asanas stretch your body, strengthens, and tightens your muscles. 

Practicing yoga asanas activate the parasympathetic nervous system that promotes emotional stability. Hence, it improves one’s decision-making skills, develops a positive attitude and personality. Practice some yoga poses for positivity:

Surya Namaskar – It provides flexibility to every body part. Performing the whole process with coordinated breathing helps blood circulation throughout the body, empowers muscles and bones, and benefits the nervous system.

Vrikshasana – This yoga asana strengthens legs & aids joints. Its regular practice improves the body balance and coordination among body parts.

3. Eat healthily

The fuel you provide affects the functioning of a machine. Similarly, the food you eat affects your mood and emotional health. Avoid fast food because instead of supplying strength, it deteriorates your health.

Further, an organic, fresh, and balanced diet detoxifies your body and promotes physical and mental health. Eat high-quality foods that include lots of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. It nourishes your body and mind.

Eat more green foods as they are dense in nutrition and contain a healthy amount of antioxidants. Moreover, they carry lots of fiber content that aids digestion and prevents overeating. They could serve as weight loss foods as well.

4. Know more about yoga 

Yoga is not just a physical activity. It includes diverse elements that promote a positive mindset. 

Yama, niyama, dhyana, dharna, and also their sub-parts like Satya (truthfulness), Asteya (non-stealing), Santosh (contentment), and Ahimsa (non-violence) are some positive practices that introduce discipline and peace to life. 

Also, there are many kinds of it like karma yoga, raj yoga, bhakti yoga, hatha yoga. It will produce a feeling of selfless actions and faith in goodness that raises mental health.

5. Repeat and follow your mantras 

Create some positive and true affirmations and repeat them. It will influence your actions accordingly. You might have heard the old saying:

“Your beliefs become your thoughts; your thoughts become your words,

Your words become your actions; your actions become your habit,

Your habits become your values; your values become your destiny. “

Thus, write your thoughts in the form of mantras/affirmations and repeat them they become your actions.

6. Read motivational articles 

Inspire yourself through reading. You can also create a routine of reading helpful, inspiring articles, blogs, books to grow your knowledge and feed your mind with positive thoughts. 

Reading motivational articles and books creates a healthy environment to focus on your strength and develop an attitude of courtesy and self-love.

Swami Vivekananda introduced yoga benefits, not just a physical exercise to practice to gain a healthy body & muscles but as a physical activity to improve concentration that could help you excel in almost all parts of life. 

His words – playing football will make you better understand Bhagvatgita, portrays the importance of physical activity to acquire knowledge. 

Vivekananda himself established a great example as a person who lived a disciplined life and attained greatness through yoga. Some stories evidenced his incredible concentration power through yoga.

Also, yoga helps to heal the body. Moreover, it never matters if you’re a professional athlete or a person endorsed an inactive lifestyle.

7. Improves gray matter in the brain

The benefits of yoga include more than just physical fitness. Do you know our brain contains 60% white matter and 40% grey matter? Do you know what their functions are?

Gray matter is generally pink in color due to blood flow, which converts to gray after death. It contains cells and neurons and is responsible for learning abilities and memory. It can also elucidate the senses to information and advocates your muscle control and self-awareness.

White matter, on the other hand, takes care of the coordination between body and brain. Thus, it allows you to have coordination between brain and body movements and also your thoughts.

Research shows that general intelligence is associated with a thicker volume of gray matter, which you can achieve through lots of practice. That is how practice makes a man perfect. 

Different work practices develop gray matter in different parts of your brain. For example, a professional musician would have a thicker amount of gray matter in its Broca’s and some other related area like motor, auditory, visuospatial parts than amateurs.

However, both gray and white matters complement each other and allow you to think, coordinate body movements, reflexes, and interpret your surroundings. The habit of yoga for positivity increases the volume of gray matter in the hippocampus and frontal section of your brain.

Additionally, practice increases the wrinkles in the brain. These folds are called cortical folds. They carry cells that increase the surface area of the brain and contribute to excellence in the work.

Summing-up

Likewise, regular practice of yoga benefits grey matter density in your prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, which are responsible for:

• better focus and concentration power
• improves emotional health and impulse control
• increase the sense of self-awareness
• contributes better decision making

Moreover, yoga helps to increase the folds in the brain. Further, it results in an increased number of brain cells. 

Researches indicate that meditation practice can develop your brain that is achievable through years of practice.

Therefore, practicing yoga for positivity, mainly yoga poses, pranayama, and meditation, benefits structural changes in the brain. All of which will help you live a peaceful and healthy life.