On the positive side, flexibility provides various health benefits. Yoga helps in increasing the motion range and improves joint health that prevents sports injury, repetitive damages, and back pain. Other than that, yoga is also beneficial for increasing well-being, alleviating insomnia, and reduces stress.
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Why Is Flexibility So Important?
Flexibility is an essential component in every physical fitness activity. Strength training and cardio are on many people’s radar, but flexibility is often avoided by people until injury or pain arises. Many physiotherapy treatments involve stretching every tight muscle in the limited motion range, and putting stress on such vulnerable areas in various joints decreases pain and repetitive damages.
Apart from physical benefits, flexibility also provides mental benefits. Flexibility increases through performing stretching exercises, and stretching makes an individual feel good and relaxed. While stretching, we relieve stress by releasing tension. The quote “where the body goes, the mind follows” can be used in this situation. While removing all the physical tension and stress, you also let go of mental stress and tension.
How Does Yoga Increase Flexibility
Yoga provides a variety of poses that draws the focus on stealth muscles and muscle groups. Significant yoga differences are alignment, attention, and awareness. Alignment focuses on the precise position of each pose to minimize repetitive damages and injury risk and maximize muscle strength. Attention helps in concentrating and feeling every pose to the fullest. It helps in cultivating your body awareness. At the same time, awareness helps in increasing the alert sensors, which capture every moment throughout your yoga session.
These three tools are the greatest asset of yoga because they reset your mind and reduce anxiety and stress.
What Are The Best Yoga Poses For Flexibility?
The best yoga poses for increasing flexibility are exercises you should do daily. The hamstring, shoulders, and hips are the primary areas where many individuals can experience tightness, so the below-listed poses address and provide relief to these areas. However, yoga poses do not usually work in a particular area; one can experience the benefits of stretching in your pectoral, intercostal, quads, and calves. Listed below are some of the best yoga poses for increasing flexibility.
Big Toe Pose
This yoga pose helps in strengthening and lengthening every stubborn tight muscle in your hamstrings area. It also provides deep stretch from your spine area to your feet. Steps for performing this yoga pose:
Stand straight and keep your feet parallel to each other in the hip distance. Also, keep your arms relaxed.
Slowly exhale and start bending forward from your hip joint and keeping your knees straight. Wrap your middle and index finger around your big toe, and wrap your thumb around both fingers.
On another exhale, bend further and try to touch your forehead to your shins. Remember to breathe comfortably and keep your spine and head relaxed.
Now slowly move back to your original position and perform the same steps four times more.
This pose helps in stretching your legs and back and increases flexibility.
Bound Angle Pose
This pose is also called Buddha Konasana. It focuses on opening every deepest muscle around your hip area. It gently stretches sore hip muscles and improves body awareness and posture. Steps for performing this yoga pose:
Start by sitting in a staff pose with legs extended and back straight.
Slowly bend your knees and press your heels together towards your pelvis. Make sure your knees drop open only as far as they can go!
Hold your big tools with your first two fingers, and then press the outer edge to put your feet firmly together.
Slowly extend forward and hold the pose for at least five minutes.
This pose helps in removing stiffness around your hip area after a long day. Remember, while performing this pose, you must breathe calmly and not force or exceed your body limit.
Cow Face Pose
This pose is notoriously tricky but provides relief to individuals suffering from tight shoulders who cannot lock their fingers together. This pose helps stretch your ankle, shoulders, chest, triceps, armpits, hip, and thighs. Steps of performing this yoga pose:
- Start by sitting in the staff pose and slowly bend your right knee and bring your left foot to cross around your right hip.
- Inhale and slowly lengthen your spine along with stretching your arms outside. Rotate your right shoulder so that your right palm faces towards the wall behind you and sweep your left arm behind your back.
- Hook your fingers together behind your back and hold the position.
Cow face pose helps in stretching your hips, ankles, and thighs. It also works on your chest muscles, upper back, shoulders, and triceps. It opens your thoracic spine and chest.
Conclusion:
Flexibility provides various health benefits; it helps in increasing the motion range and improves joint health that prevents sports injury, repetitive damages, and back pain. Other than that, yoga is also beneficial for increasing well-being, alleviating insomnia, and reduces stress.
