Health Benefits of Yoga for Women: Exploring the Physical and Mental Benefits of Yoga for Women

Abstract

This paper will highlight the Health benefits of Yoga for Women through the practice of Yoga and explore how Yoga can significantly enhance their health.Yoga is a spiritual science of self-realization. It comes from India and goes back over five thousand of years. The Indian sage Patanjali, in his yoga sutra defines yoga as the control of the activities of the mind; yoga methods encompass the entire field of our existence, from the physical, emotional and mental to the spiritual. Its methods include ethical disciplines, physical postures, breath control, as well as meditation.Yoga is an ancient system developed over the centuries by the Sages of India. Yoga is a system of training of mind, body and spirit for purification of soul and attaining oneness with the supreme consciousness. The goal of yoga is to calm the mind, ensure better co-ordination of mind and body so that we live a healthy life and experience spiritual growth.Today’s woman is much more than her traditional role of a housewife, a mother or a daughter. Her extended roles that foray beyond her four walls, she plays an equal role in the decisions of socio-economic and political life she leads. She is a multi-faceted, dynamic and uniquely influential part of our society and is forever striving for perfection in every aspect of life.A woman’s golden years of life has their unique challenge. With age, the practice of complex asanas reduces. Asanas aimed at improving blood circulation and a healthy nervous system will help the body to extend and eventually fully relax. The aim of yoga at this stage, as always, is to maintain both physical and mental health, therefore bringing about balance and harmony. With continuity, the practice of yoga matures and women learn how to accommodate the physical limitations brought about by increasing age.Regular practice of certain specific asana (postures) provides the body with necessary strength to face the contractions to help ease labor, speed recovery and restore energy levels. Post-Natal practice of pranayama, or yogic breathing, and practice of gentle and easy Asana helps to restore firmness in the muscle fibers and encourage a continued supply of milk.