You might wonder, “How does yoga make you feel?” before taking the plunge. Many find yoga can impart a sense of calm or peace, but others feel invigorated.
When yoga first started to become popular in my area, I heard about it from a friend who told me how her life has been “utterly transformed” since she started on her new “fitness journey.” I started yoga because I wanted to become more flexible; I was never really interested in aligning my chakras or any of the spiritual well-being that people claim they get from yoga.
So, how does yoga make you feel? Everyone is different, so some people feel a sense of calm, while others find it invigorating. There’s a wealth of scientific research that has shown yoga can improve people’s moods and even enhance or speed up their healing.
The General Benefits Of Exercise
In its simplest form, yoga is nothing more than movement; just about any movement can be considered exercise. Of course, how exercise makes a person feel will depend on many factors, including their overall health, attitude towards exercise, and even the attitude of the people around them.
Nonetheless, there has been a lot written about the benefits of exercise. Typically, yoga is considered a relatively low-impact exercise; it rarely will push a person’s heart rate past their ideal cardio range, and in many cases, there is no reason to worry about muscle strain.
Because of this, yoga will not do a lot to promote weight loss directly, nor will it cause a person to gain muscle quickly. Instead, the physical benefits of yoga are largely related to things such as better balance, increased flexibility, and improved emotional health.
Of course, all of these benefits are very difficult to quantify, particularly improved emotional health. There is no real way to measure how an exercise routine like yoga will actually affect a person emotionally. That means that the only way we know how yoga will make a person feel is by listening to the stories of people who do yoga.
Check out these yoga retreat ideas to promote relaxation.
What Makes Yoga Different
There is a wide range of emotions people have towards doing yoga. There are a large number of people who look at yoga as just another type of stretching and low-impact strength training. These people tend to have the same emotions that most people have after completing a similar-style workout.
They feel satisfied and content or have a sense of accomplishment upon completing their workout.
Other people, however, will feel a big emotional connection to yoga. Yoga can be more than a workout. For some people, it is an integral part of their cultural heritage. Some people will also feel a sense of peace and calm after yoga.
Yoga was originally designed to help people achieve a state of calm that would help them meditate. There are still plenty of people who find it useful for this purpose, but it can be difficult to determine if this will be the case for everyone. The best way to find out if it will work for you is to try it.
You might also find our explainer on why you feel dizzy after yoga helpful.