Monday, March 23, 2009

Check out my new moves!

I'm not even sure I know what's going on in this picture.

I can't believe some of the asanas (that's what we yoga people call yoga poses - LOL) that I've seen online. I can't wait to become a pretzel. I think that will be cool...

Here are some of the benefits of yoga from www.abc-of-yoga.com:

Physiological Benefits of Yoga
Stable autonomic nervous system equilibrium
Pulse rate decreases
Respiratory rate decreases
Blood Pressure decreases (of special significance for hyporeactors)
Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) increases
EEG - alpha waves increase (theta, delta, and beta waves also increase during various stages of meditation)
EMG activity decreases
Cardiovascular efficiency increases
Respiratory efficiency increases
Gastrointestinal function normalizes
Endocrine function normalizes
Excretory functions improve
Musculoskeletal flexibility and joint range of motion increase
Breath-holding time increases
Joint range of motion increase
Grip strength increases
Eye-hand coordination improves
Dexterity skills improve
Reaction time improves
Posture improves
Strength and resiliency increase
Endurance increases
Energy level increases
Weight normalizes
Sleep improves
Immunity increases
Pain decreases
Steadiness improves
Depth perception improves
Balance improves
Integrated functioning of body parts improves

Psychological Benefits of Yoga
Somatic and kinesthetic awareness increase
Mood improves and subjective well-being increases
Self-acceptance and self-actualization increase
Social adjustment increases
Anxiety and Depression decrease
Hostility decreases
Concentration improves
Memory improves
Attention improves
Learning efficiency improves
Mood improves
Self-actualization increase
Social skills increases
Well-being increases
Somatic and kinesthetic awareness increase
Self-acceptance increase
Attention improves
Concentration improves
Memory improves
Learning efficiency improves
Symbol coding improves
Depth perception improves
Flicker fusion frequency improves

Biochemical Benefits of Yoga
Glucose decreases
Sodium decreases
Total cholesterol decreases
Triglycerides decrease
HDL cholesterol increases
LDL cholesterol decreases
VLDL cholesterol decreases
Cholinesterase increases
Catecholamines decrease
ATPase increases
Hematocrit increases
Hemoglobin increases
Lymphocyte count increases
Total white blood cell count decreases
Thyroxin increases
Vitamin C increases
Total serum protein increases

3 comments:

Alison... said...

wow, that's quite a long list of benefit. I think you're convincing your readers [well me anyway] to give yoga a try.

Being a pretzel sounds like fun

;-)

Kristen said...

LOL - doesn't it?

Definitely give it a try. I like being in the privacy of my own home for now, but once I'm more comfortable, I'm really looking forward to taking a class.

I'm going to get some new DVDs tonight.

Anonymous said...

We used to call Chris, Chris Pretzel before we knew him well. just sayin....