How Yoga will change your life
In 2018, I decided to give yoga a try. I was suffering from excruciating back pain due to uneven hips and scoliosis, and I also thought it could be a nice thing to get a bit more flexible and tone up a little. Off I went to the gym to attend my first yoga class. I could feel the benefits immediately, and soon it became a regular thing that I did two to three times a week. If I was too lazy to visit the gym, I would practice at home with YouTube. The longer I sticked to a consistent practice, the more benefits I could feel. Yes, my backpain disappeared, and yes, I got a hell lot more flexible and in a better shape, but also (sorry if this sounds too cheesy 😁), my whole life changed completely. Here is how:
1. Any kind of stress symptom disappeared completely
By now, this is probably the most popular fact about yoga, but I can tell you it really is true. I started to feel much more at ease with myself. Suddenly, I was able to sit still and give meditation a try. Before that, I could hardly sit for two minutes with closed eyes. It nearly freaked me out to focus on my breath and not do anything. (Also, my back would start to hurt A LOT). Now, none of that is a problem anymore. How can that be?
When practicing yoga, science has found that there are various things that lead to stress relief: Doing yoga decreases the hormones that stress us (like cortisol), increases the hormones that relax us, and regulates the ones that make us feel like we’re being rewarded. Therefore, yoga can have significant impact on lowering stress symptoms and anxiety, as has been shown by several studies. This can already be experienced after attending a single class, but in order to create and maintain a long term effect, it is important to develop a consistent practice, ideally every day even if it is just 5 minutes, especially if you are suffering from tremendous stress symptoms. You don’t have to attend a two hour intense class, but just lying on a mat, the bed, the floor (wherever you like) for 5 to 15 minutes in a restorative pose like “Viparita Karani” (you lie on your back, put your legs up against a wall and breathe deeply) can impact our stress levels decisively. I filmed a 20 minute class for anxiety and stress that you can find on my YouTube channel.
2. I got much more disciplined in other areas of my life
After having practiced yoga for a while, I started to become aware of what my body is actually capable of. Things that prior I never thought I would be able to do (headstand?? Noooo way), suddenly became easy and normal. Especially when I started to see the signs of progress my body made, it led me to realize how impactful regular practice is and how much we are in control over our own body, not only what it looks like, but also how it moves and what it feels like. This feeling of motivation and responsibility started to transfer onto other areas of my life, where I became much more disciplined, for example with eating healthy and meditating regularly. And in fact, yoga helps you to make better decisions and be more mindful about everything you do off the mat as well. That is because yoga is capable of changing deeply engraved thinking and behavioral patterns in our brain (called Samskars). To some, this might sound airy-fairy, but again there is science backing this up. The brain’s ability to change is called neuroplasticity, and when practicing yoga, the mind and body are essentially rewiring and patterns are being changed. How crazy is that??? 😃
3. I developed more confidence and self-love
I can definitely say that I didn’t have the best relationship with my body in the past. I could write down a never ending list with all the things I disliked about my body, from my boobs that I thought were too small, to my thies that were too big, to my legs that were too short. Never would I have thought I would ever film yoga videos with me in it and then upload them to YouTube! My self-confidence was so low, and I was trapped in a circle of recurring negative thoughts about myself. This changed drastically after I started practicing yoga. Yoga is a form of meditation, you get so aware of your thoughts and learn more and more to navigate them, to shift them, and to transform them into thoughts that serve you and empower you. You get to know your own body so well, and you start to realize what it is capable of and what it is doing for you every single day. I used to be so angry and upset about all the health issues I was facing, instead of looking at all the things that were perfectly right and healthy in my body. You literally can’t help but fall in love with your body and treasure your health on a whole new level. I strongly believe that this is the reason why yoga is also proven to help with healing eating disorders, as you start to build much more self-love and kindness towards your body and develop great confidence and just in general a good body feeling.
4. I was able to heal my spine
Not only does yoga straighten and strengthen the spine muscles as well as the abdominals, but it also brings you into balance and alignment due to this conscious shift of awareness into your body. Bye bye back pain and hello healthy spine! Furthermore, all the shoulder openings and back-bendings during a yoga class lead to a strongly improved posture with long-term benefits. The physical practice of yoga is so incredibly intelligent, every posture has a purpose and is exactly tuned to the body’s inner functions.
5. My mood (swings) changed
There is scientific evidence that yoga helps with improving mood and emotional regulation, which also happens after attending just a single class! While I definitely had a tendency for mood swings, I could feel how yoga started to make me feel more balanced, more content, and overall happier and nicer to be around 😅. In fact, “Yoga has a greater positive effect on a person’s mood and anxiety level than walking and other forms of exercise, which may be due to higher levels of the brain chemical GABA” (Science Daily, 2010). Especially if you are suffering from low mood swings or depression, starting a daily yoga practice could be forever lifechanging.
6. I started to sleep much better
Lastly, I noticed a profound difference in the quality of my sleep. Not only was I able to fall asleep faster (something I’ve always been struggling with), but I also stopped waking up at night, and felt super rested when I woke up in the morning. Again, the positive effect of yoga on our sleep has been backed up by science. What definitely contributed to that is that I also reduced my caffeine intake and limited it to mornings only. I had learned from the book “Why we sleep” by Matthew Walker that coffee stays in our system for about 12 hours, which is why we should only drink it until 9am.
All these factors changed my life completely, and that is why I love to share my practice and get as many people as possible to practice yoga, too! You can practice with me 1:1 via Zoom or in person (you can book your first session here). You can also find me on YouTube where I’m uploading new videos every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday! I’d love to see you there! 😍
Lots of love,
Nicole
