26/02/2019
When most people think about Yoga, they think about flexibility and being able to touch their toes. While Yoga does help the body to be more flexible, it also helps to improve functional strength.
After a Yoga class, so many of my clients say to me that they're feeling muscles they never even knew they had. Often in a Yoga class, we work muscles that in our regular gym workouts, would never even be touched. Yoga helps to strengthen and tone all of the postural muscles ie all the muscles necessary to hold our bodies upright, while walking, standing, sitting, and exercising. This includes muscles in the core, the legs, the back, the glutes, and the arms. This is what is meant by functional strength. It helps your body move the way the body was created to. It improves strength that is needed for your body to be healthy.
When we have poor posture, everything suffers. Our breathing is limited, our necks, upper and lower backs hurt, our spines become misshaped etc. Yoga helps to correct all these maladaptations, and improves strength.
