School breeds stress, and stress can be the cause of a whole array of health issues. While finding time to exercise can seem impossible it is important—but so is taking care of your mind. Luckily, yoga has many benefits. This practice has swept North America at a stunningly fast rate as more and more people realize it not only helps fitness and personal health, but also fights depression and provides learning and coping attributes. First, let us go through the main long-term benefits of regular yoga practice and how it applies to YOUR health while in university of college.

Taking on life in a calm and relaxing manner while applying yoga techniques to learning

Yoga practice promotes relaxed feelings while expanding meditative skills and easing the body. In most forms of yoga patience, concentration and repetition are necessary and a main focus for the instructor and students. The skills you learn here will seep into how you handle the stress of school, balance work and studies, and how you memorize and approach work and study time lines. As a calm mind lends itself well to focus, yoga uses this to help pave the way to improved memory, IQ scores, reaction times and coordination. You’ll find that the patience and breathing skills learned in yoga will help immensely with problem solving.

Sleeping Better

That relaxation we talked about above…that will not only impact your yoga sessions and school life but also your sleeping time. Yoga loosens you up and positively affects your health—a tense body and troubled mind disrupts sleep. The more you progress with yoga, the deeper you will sleep. This will leave you rested and ready for school and all the troubles that come with it.

Fewer colds and illnesses, relieves depression

According to YogaJournal.com, regular yoga practice drains your lymphs—through the stretching of muscles and moving around of organs, it progressively boosts immunity. This helps your lymphatic system kill cancerous cells, battle infection, and rid the body of the toxic waste produced by cellular functioning. Regular yoga practice ups your heart rate, and this is instrumental in relieving depression. Not only does it promote a healthy mind, but it is also common for those involved with yoga to develop healthier eating lifestyles. This dietary change and the constant movement of yoga prevent digestive problems. If all of these problems sound familiar to you personally, it is because university is a particular breeding ground for all of it. Let yoga help you.

Improving flexibility and intake of oxygen

All the movement and bending you do in yoga goes a long way to improve your quality of life. The unavoidable improvement of flexibility will help with posture, and this actually helps you to feel good and more focused in school and when studying. Regular patterns of breathing help with focus and relaxation, both of which will make learning a lot less stressful.

Different types of yoga and their focuses:

• Restorative Yoga—Focuses primarily on relaxation. Let yourself drop out of your troubles.
• Anusara Yoga—Heart-opening poses.
• Iyengar Yoga—A strong focus on alignment and prop use including blocks, harnesses, straps and cushions.
• Ashtanga Yoga—Push your body with this extreme power yoga.
• Kundalini Yoga—A core workout that focuses on the area around your lower spine.
• Vinyasa Yoga—A flow yoga that can be called the most popular type—begin with a sun salutation.
• Hatha Yoga—A wind down. Slow and gentle movements.
• Bikrram Yoga—Hot yoga! 26 poses that often focus on alignment in 105-degree heat and 40% humidity.

Source: www.yogajournal.com