17 Insane Benefits Of Yoga For Women’s Holistic Health And Wellness

Yoga is so popular. These days, it seems like everyone’s doing yoga. From celebs in Hollywood and spiritual seekers to stay-at-home mums, but is yoga really worth it? And what exactly are its benefits?

In this article, we take a look at why yoga is great for holistic health, wellness, and healing so that you can make the most of this wonderful ancient practice.

Can Yoga Really Change Your Life?

Yes, yoga really can change your life. As a yoga practitioner and yoga teacher, I have personally watched yoga change my life, my students’ lives, and the lives of many other practitioners and teachers, too.

Don’t just take my word for it… Simply go to your local yoga studio and speak to some of the regular yoga class participants to find out for yourself.

Yoga is not an overnight solution, and its benefits really manifest when you’re committed to regular and consistent practice. So don’t expect yoga to work miracles if you’re not putting in the work. 

It is often said that yoga isn’t something you do, it’s a lifestyle—which is very much true. 

However, if you commit to a regular and consistent yoga practice that is tailored to your needs, yoga can change your life for the better in infinite and unexpected ways.

The Amazing Benefits Of Yoga For Women And Holistic Health

Keen to learn more about how yoga can help to improve and transform your life? Here are some of the amazing benefits of yoga for holistic health, wellness, and healing! 

1. Invigorates And Strengthens Your Chakras

Yoga is an ancient spiritual practice that originates from South Asia. And one of the main purposes and benefits of yoga is to balance and harmonise the ‘subtle body’, also known as the subtle energetic body. Your subtle body is made up of energy channels (nadis) and energy centres (chakras).

Yogic practices such as yoga postures (asana), breathwork (pranayama), sacred sounds and chants (mantras), and meditation (dhyana) help to cleanse, energise, and strengthen your chakras and energy channels—which in turn can help to release stagnant energy and improve your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

2. Cleanses And Strengthens Your Body 

Not only does yoga strengthen the chakra system, but some clinical studies also suggest that it helps to protect the body too.

A medical study by the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine in New York notes that a regular yoga practice seemed to improve the antioxidant levels in the body, whilst also reducing oxidative stress. Yoga also appeared to positively affect stress hormone levels and immune system function.¹

Another medical journal by BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, notes that yoga reduces inflammation and has a positive effect on the immune system.²

In general, a variety of medical studies suggest that practising yoga is a great complementary way to strengthen your health through improved overall physical health, antioxidant levels, immune system function, and anti-inflammatory effects.

If you’re interested in learning how to get the best results from your yoga practice, then check out my article here.

3. Can Support Addiction Recovery

Yoga is a great tool to aid in addiction recovery. Yoga teaches and enhances mindfulness and conscious action, which is vital in the recovery from addiction and substance-use disorders.

During the process of recovery, mindfulness can be used to interrupt unhelpful patterns of thought and behaviour in order to replace them with healthier ones. And yoga in itself can serve as a great replacement for unhealthy habits.

For example, giving up smoking can be highly stressful due to the physically addictive effects of nicotine. However, yoga can be used during the withdrawal process to help reduce stress and distract the individual from the symptoms of withdrawal.

4. Enhances Mental Clarity

Yoga can help improve cognitive function and mental clarity. A medical journal by Advances in Mind-Body Medicine, found that a consistent and regular yoga practice improved the cognitive function of children.³

Whilst another clinical journal by the International Journal of Yoga, notes that a variety of studies have suggested that yoga has a positive effect on sleep and cognitive function in both healthy adults and those suffering from neurological diseases.⁴

Behavioural Brain Research observed that a 15-minute daily meditation, practised consistently for over an 8-week timespan, was enough to decrease negative moods, increase attention span, improve memory, and decrease anxiety.⁵

A massive part of holistic health is having the clarity to make better choices, and noticing when things don’t serve you so that you can evolve—yoga and mindfulness are great tools to help get you there.

5. Improves Sexual Self-Esteem And Sex Drive

Yoga works on revitalising and moving stagnant energy through the chakras. Svadhistana chakra (also known as the sacral chakra) is responsible for passion, creativity, desire, and sexual energy.

Pranayama (breathwork and energy work) in yoga helps to ensure that your subtle energy is moving properly through the sacral chakra, which helps to improve your creativity and sexual function.

You’ll get the best results from yoga when you are practising regularly, preferably at least 15 minutes per day. A good, consistent yoga practice helps you to feel more connected to your body and more confident—which also helps to increase your sensuality and sexual confidence. 

Often when you’re taking good care of yourself and feel your best, your sexual self-confidence, sexual self-esteem and libido naturally increase. 

Want to learn more sexual awakening tips for women? Then check out my article here.

6. More Energy And A Sense Of Vitality

You might assume that doing more exercise will make you feel more tired than usual, but moderate regular exercise often has the opposite effect. 

A medical journal by Sports Medicine notes that clinical studies show an association between exercise and reduced feelings of tiredness, low energy, and fatigue when compared with inactive peers.⁶

Yoga practitioners often report feeling more centred and energised due to their holistic yoga practice.

7. Increases Mental Discipline And Inner Strength

Practising yoga helps you to improve your discipline and resilience, whilst building inner strength. Yoga isn’t always easy, and it requires patience, consistency, and commitment. 

These are great qualities that can be applied to the rest of your holistic health and wellness journey, too. For example, eating a balanced, nutritious diet also requires these very same qualities.

Nurturing your ability to make good choices with consistency can help to support your wider lifestyle and holistic health goals.

8. Improves Mood Management

Practising yoga can help to improve mood and emotional regulation. This is because yoga helps to regulate and balance hormones, and improves physical and mental health whilst also increasing self-awareness.

A medical study by the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine notes that yoga is more effective at improving mood and decreasing anxiety than walking, even when equal in metabolic activity.⁷

Heightened self-awareness allows you to observe your mindset, moods, and emotions with greater clarity.

Self-awareness also provides the opportunity to respond to your environment as opposed to reacting. This can provide you with greater management of your own emotions and moods, as opposed to being uncontrollably ruled by your (often fleeting) emotions.

9. Helps With Stress Management And Burnout

Yoga can be a very powerful tool for stress management and can aid in the recovery from burnout because it helps to activate the parasympathetic nervous system—which is responsible for a sense of calm and relaxation.

A clinical study found that practising yoga for over 8 to 16 weeks helped to significantly reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia in a group of workers.⁸

Breathwork (pranayama) in particular is really effective at helping to soothe and regulate the nervous system.

10. Improves Overall Physical Health

Yoga is well-known to be an effective tool for physical health and fitness. A clinical study by the International Journal of Yoga notes that yoga helps to improve muscle strength, flexibility, respiratory function, and cardiovascular function, whilst reducing the physiological markers of stress, anxiety, and depression.⁹

Yoga helps practitioners move into the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps to reduce blood pressure, lower breathing rate, cortisol levels, and heart rate whilst increasing blood flow to vital organs.⁹

11. Supports Good Mental Health

Yoga is a great way to find balance and support your mental health. We live in a demanding modern world which pulls our attention and energy in multiple different directions due to complicated responsibilities in the workplace, in social groups, and at home—and this is without even considering hobbies and wellness.

Practising yoga regularly is a great way to take back some control and respite from the stressors of day-to-day life. 

If you’re experiencing anxiety, overwhelm, burnout, depression, insomnia or fatigue, then yoga can support your holistic wellness journey.

Engaging in a holistic yoga practice with a balance of yoga postures (asana), breathwork (pranayama), and meditation (dhyana) is a powerful way to help soothe and regulate your nervous system.

12. Can Aid In Weight Loss

If you’re keen to get fitter or lose unwanted fat, then yoga asana is a great way for you to achieve your health and fitness goals. 

There are a variety of different types of yoga, some of which are better at achieving certain fitness goals than others.

If you speak directly to your yoga teacher, they’ll be able to help you outline a plan so that you can achieve your aims with the support of yoga.

13. Builds Muscle Strength And Increases Mobility

Yoga asanas (yoga postures) are a form of bodyweight physical training, which makes them great at helping to build muscle strength whilst increasing mobility, core strength and flexibility.

If you’re a beginner wanting to explore different exercise options, then depending on the yoga class you choose, yoga asana can help you build a great fitness routine.

And if you’re already weight training or cardio training and want to improve the balance in your current exercise routine, then yoga is a great complementary option to improve fitness whilst working on mobility, flexibility, and core strength.

14. Can Help Heal Trauma

Yoga and somatic coaching are perfect to complement professional mental health support for the recovery of trauma.

Yoga helps to improve self-awareness, and the mind-body connection, whilst helping to balance a dysregulated nervous system.

If you’ve been experiencing symptoms of trauma, PTSD, dissociation, numbness, and emotional or nervous system dysregulation, then breathwork and yoga postures are a helpful way to get back in touch with your body and essence. 

15. Better Mindful Connection With Your Body

If you’re keen to build a better mind-body connection, then yoga can help you to achieve your goals. If you find that you’re not connected to your body, experience numbness, over- or under-eat, or frequently work until burnout, then yoga can be a helpful tool for recovery from mind-body disconnection.

Mindfulness and conscious awareness are central aspects of yoga and can be helpful in day-to-day life in a multitude of ways. 

Harmonising the connection between mind and body is a great starting point for achieving a healthy balance and holistic wellness.

16. Can Help Heal Eating Disorders

Mindfulness-based practices such as yoga, breathwork, and meditation can be a supportive tool alongside professional clinical support for the recovery from eating disorders.

Mindfulness-based practices help to build conscious awareness around thoughts, behaviours, emotions, and actions, which is essential in the recovery from eating disorders and addiction.

Yoga philosophy is also beneficial for the development of self-love and non-harming behaviour to the self and others.

Ahimsa in particular, which translates to non-harming, is the first yama outlined by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras.

Yoga philosophy encourages us to be kind, compassionate, and loving towards ourselves and others.

17. Can Help To Unlock Creativity (opens your mind)

Yoga is a potent tool for creativity and unlocking your hidden potential. Yogic practices help you to feel grounded, connected, passionate, and calm. 

Yoga and meditation provide space for creative thinking and innovative solutions to arise.

If you’re keen to think outside of the box and want to be more open-minded for problem-solving and strategic thinking, simply make time for a regular yoga practice in your routine.

Conclusion

Did you know all of these benefits of yoga existed? Which ones surprised you? And which ones would you add to the list? Let me know in the comments.