When I first started yoga three years ago, I did it because I wanted to get into shape and improve my strength and flexibility. To me, the practice was only about the physical benefits, just like any other workout that I tried. But one year into the practice and I started to realize that yoga was not only improving my physical being, but it was helping me in so many other aspects.

Here are main four benefits I got out of yoga.

1. I started to breathe again

It is common knowledge that breathing is very important. Besides, it is the one thing that keeps us alive every day. What a lot of people do not know however is that most of us are breathing incorrectly. With fast paced lives and hectic days, we tend to use shallow breathing (restricting it to the chest and throat and not use our abdomen at all; contrary to babies who fully use their abdominal breathing). What this means is that we take in smaller amounts of air and consequently have to take in more breaths per minute which ultimately increases our heart rates in an inefficient way – leading to more stress, anxiety and sometimes illnesses. In yoga, you learn to use the full yogic breath which helps you to breathe more efficiently.

2. I got reintroduced to myself

Anyone who has practiced yoga would know that there are many uncomfortable or challenging poses. This is especially true when some of our muscles are weak or tight. When you are put in such uncomfortable poses, the mind starts to send you signals to get out them. With time, you start to get to know your patterns and habits; when do you get uncomfortable? What is your limit? And when do you allow yourself to cross your limit/edge. Ultimately you train yourself to breathe through uncomfortable poses and through this process you learn about yourself and habits. Personally, I started to recognize some of my patterns and was able to identify which challenging poses I had to put more effort in to make my practice smoother.

3. My behavior on the mat is the same off the mat

In the yoga world, they say your mat is your mirror. Just like challenging poses, we all go through challenging situations in our everyday life. Bad traffic, problems at home or at work, stressful deadlines, are just a few examples! How we react to challenging poses on the mat is similar to how we deal with difficult situations off the mat. And so, when we learn to breathe through them, we also train ourselves to breathe through difficult times throughout the day. Of course this requires a great deal of self-discipline but yoga provides us with some of the tools necessary to cope with daily stresses.

4. I am now 100% convinced with ‘Mind over Matter’

Oh the mind! Sigh. It puts in front of us so many road blocks and barriers! And this is so true when it comes to yoga. During my practice and my very short teaching experience I hear and see a lot of ‘my arms are too weak’, ‘I am not flexible enough’, ‘I have no strength’, ‘I am scared of inversions’, ‘I can never do that!’. Having had some challenges with inversions (mostly handstands and forearm stands), I really know what it feels like to completely block yourself from trying a certain pose. I was always afraid that I would fall and break my back in half and so I shied away from even trying any forearm stands for a couple of years. When I finally collected the courage to try, I realized that it was all in my head and that my mind was restricting me in so many ways. As long as you are practicing safely and keep an open mind, you will be surprised with what your body can accomplish. And so, becoming stronger and more flexible are all perks or side effects of yoga. Becoming more in tune with your soul, mind and body and learning about your true self is ultimately the best thing you can get out of it.