As interest in Yoga continues to increase in Western countries over the last few decades, Yoga is being practiced more and more devoid of its original spiritual context, solely for its physical health benefits



A popular misconception is that Yoga concentrates only on increasing flexibility. However, Yoga practice also stresses postural alignment, strength, endurance and balance.

Studies have shown that Yoga is a very safe and effective of increasing physical activity. Yoga also has important psychological benefits as a result of its meditative nature



Just like other forms of exercise, Yoga helps increase muscle strength, improves flexibility, enhances endurance, and promotes balance. Yoga also helps increase energy and reduces physical aches and pains.

How yoga helps arthritis

When practiced with deep internal awareness, the practice of Yoga provides a systematically graded training in slowly increasing range of movements. This helps mobilize the stiff joints as well as prevent further aging process



Even though the damaged cartilage may not be possible to replaced, you can definitely arreste further deterioration and wearing out.

In chronically damaged joints with pain and deformities, the muscles surrounding the affected areas are normally very weak on account of long standing inactivity. Just as in to physiotherapy many Yoga practices when done with deep internal awareness and repetitions, help strengthen the muscles around. Yoga is a specific practice that provides non-weight bearing exercises to strengthen the muscles. This provides weight bearing support to damaged joints The extra contribution of yogasanas and pranayamas is the deep relaxation that gets rid of muscle fatigue.

Further, the inner equilibrium, contentment, absolute fearlessness and confidence to accept all ups and downs of life almost always help arrest the process of further aging. It helps give you a changed, refreshed life with a complete change in your world view, progressing towards a positive outlook. Stress reduction at this deep level is the one thing that helps revert the programmed gene to function to a normal rate of cell repair in the cartilage.

Scientific studies of Yoga on arthritis

There is a lot of evidence of the benefits of Yoga on persons with arthritis with several more underway. All these studies have shown promising results with substantial improvement in joint health, physical functioning, and mental/emotional well-being But most importantly, Yoga has an important positive effect on the overall quality of life People suffering from arthritis can also enjoy Yoga more than traditional forms of exercise. And exercise enjoyment is an important predictor of adherence. This is very important especially considering that, on average, 45% of sedentary individuals tend to drop out of exercise within 6 months.

In fact, yoga can is a very meaningful and enjoyable alternative to traditional forms of exercise like aerobics or aquatic exercise with the added advantage of important health benefits. Yoga plays an important role in lowering stress and frustration resulting from pain and disability, and increasing positive feelings and wellbeing Yoga therapy for arthritis has improved markedly over the last few decades. Even so, arthritis cannot be cured completely, and even the best medications and medical care can only help to an extent.