Yoga is a popular practice for a lot of people, and for good reason. It’s a great form of exercise adaptable for anybody; it helps builds strength, balance and stamina.
Read my post about taking online yoga classes here.
Yoga is also a contemplative practice that can help alleviate stress. It cultivates awareness by emphasizing breath work and mind/body mindfulness.
For most dancers, yoga is already a part of their practice. I don’t think I’ve ever taken a dance class that didn’t begin with some of the common stretches and postures we find in yoga.
Build Strength, Balance & Flexibility
The yoga postures build strength and muscle memory and help us improve our posture. More than that, they help condition the body to be able to move with ease and grace.
Yoga has helped me with body awareness in a way no other practice has. Doing a posture on one side of the body and then noticing that it’s more challenging on the other side, makes you realize that we all carry ourselves in different ways. We may be stronger, more balanced or flexible on one side of our body than the other.
Yoga brings mindfulness to these very subtle but important differences and help us to bring our bodies back into balance.
Mindful Awareness Or Focus
I think the best benefit from yoga is focus. I’ve found this practice extends to all areas of my life. I think by nature I’m somewhat Type A, very driven and high energy.
In yoga I’ve found a counterbalance to the worst tendency of a Type A personality; it diffuses my impatience and helps me to cultivate a more relaxed approach to life.
If you’ve never taken an actual yoga class, do yourself a favor and try it! You’ll find it helps your dance and your life tremendously.
If you do take yoga now, what have you found to be the best benefits?
