Doing yoga alone in the solitude of your home provides many physical benefits. But when it becomes a lifestyle, your yoga practice becomes so much more.

Take the time to go deeper into your practice and yoga will provide community, alleviate stress, provide healing, and even take you to new places.

When yoga moves beyond a physical practice it becomes a lifestyle creating a world of new possibilities. Today, let’s uncover 4 benefits of making yoga a lifestyle and not just a physical practice.

Yoga cultivates community

If the mental and emotional toll the world has experienced from the recent quarantine isn’t evidence of the importance of community, then we don’t know what is. Humans thrive in community. And the community that yoga provides is one of the main reasons we believe yoga should be a lifestyle, not just a physical practice.

Sure, you can pop in a DVD and perform your asanas at home. But if your practice remains an individual activity, you’ll never appreciate the flourishing community surrounding this ancient practice.

From our international retreat to our collaborations, yoga has provided the opportunity to connect with a global community of dynamic people.

Yoga improves emotional wellbeing

Most people begin yoga for the physical benefits, but they continue because of the emotional benefits. If you ask anyone who’s been practicing for a while they’ll tell you it makes them happier, less stressed, less anxious, and more compassionate.

Yoga helps alleviate the physical symptoms of stress like the tension you might carry in your back and neck. But it goes deeper than your muscle tissue. As Mayo Clinic explains, yoga is a mind-body practice that can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and lower your heart rate. 

Yoga promotes mental healing

Beyond its ability to improve emotional wellbeing, research is beginning to uncover yoga’s therapeutic benefits for mental health concerns. Some research even shows yoga to be an effective "prescription" for many of the reasons people seek psychotherapy.

Thanks to research, yoga has become a more standard approach to treating and improving mental health concerns. The extensive research in recent years has provided scientific credibility to this ancient practice to support its benefits.

According to a recent Psychology Today article, yoga has been shown to help with reducing anger, reducing anxiety, improving sleep, decreasing PTSD, and improving your mood.

Yoga can lead you to new places

Beyond everything we’ve just mentioned, yoga can even fulfill your inner wanderlust!

Are you ready for a life-changing journey to one of Portugal’s UNESCO World Heritage Cities? Corc Yoga is launching its first annual retreat: The Renewal June 27 – July 3, 2021. The Renewal is more than a yoga retreat – it’s about living life purposefully. It’s an event centered around self-care, community, and sustainability.

Will you join us? Click here for more details about The Renewal.

Conclusion

A regular yoga practice provides wonderful physical benefits such as improved strength and flexibility. But when it becomes more than a physical practice – a lifestyle – it becomes so much more.

At Corc Yoga we encourage you to take a step deeper into your practice. Connect with the yoga community and allow it to take you to new places.