I bet you’re wondering about that decimal point. 

Yoga gets a strange wrap.

Sometimes all you hear about is flexibility and strength and fitness.

Other times it’s all about the scandals.

But you’re a grown up, and I bet you are clever enough to seperate what’s useful from what’s not. The stuff that comes up surprised the heck outta me:

1. Get more sleep.

You’re gonna sleep so much better. And not in that collapsing-n-bed-cuz-you’re-just-so-TIRED kind of way.

After a good yoga class (even one during the day) it’s easier to find your own natural sleep rhythm. When you take the time for yourself to naturally unwind with Yoga, you’re less likely to carry all that mental chatter and woundup tension into bed with you.

2. Get sick less.

Stress is the underlying cause for so many chronic conditions that we forget its affect on the more immediate stuff.

When we are under high levels of stress, we are constantly geared up and ready to respond to danger (even if it’s just that the computer tried to eat that project you’ve worked so hard on.) We can only sustain that high-alert state for so long! Eventually, the poor body gets so worn down that any old germ or virus that wanders along has no trouble at all invading your body and making you miserable.

When you practice Yoga, you help counteract that stress response.

After even a brief Yoga practice, stress hormones lower, blood pressure lowers, and you experience a deeply relaxed state. These benefits can extend out well beyond the hour you spend in class, and if continued, the benefits compound!

How cool is that?!

3. Get smokin hot.

Whoa. Simmer down now.

What I mean by that isn’t that you’ll  lose weight when you do Yoga. You might. You might not. I gained when I started practicing.

But I finally started to feel really good in my body. I began to feel stronger. I was more aware of my body. I even get a little proud sometimes of the things I can ask it to do, that I’m not sure it would have done before.

I don’t think of myself as at my ‘ideal’ weight, but I like my body more than I ever have. I am in AWE of it sometimes. Even when it’s misbehaving.

4. Get. Shit. Done.

By coming to a Yoga class as little as once a week, folks report increased focus and productivity, in their home lives and at work. Yoga is sooooo not just about moving the body. In fact, yoga is all about calming the mind. A calm mind is a clear mind.

When you take the time to take care of yourself, you bring a new sense of clarity into your task time.

4.5 Get happy.

Here’s that half a point, and I’m counting it as such because it’s kind of an extension of the previous point. You know, I snark at the typical Yoga pictures as much as the next guy. But there’s a reason that we all look so dingdang happy in these photos. Because we are. We’re getting clear about what we want, what we like, what we don’t like.

Yoga extends out into the rest of our life.

And while no one is happy all the time, folks that stick with a Yoga practice are often 100054656% happier than your average everyday crankypants.

I totally made that stat up.

So! Get your butt to a Yoga class.

Hi there shyface. I do private lessons too.

 Photo by Lexy Baughman