More than its physiological benefits, the impact of yoga on mental health is profound. For centuries Yoga gurus have established how yoga influences the mind-body connection. Now science is proving how yoga is good for physical and mental health. The benefits of yoga stimulate brain growth, increase circulation, and help retain brain cells. While exercise releases the feel-good hormones of serotonin and dopamine in the brain, yoga has similar effects. According to studies, yoga reduces anxiety, releases stress, and improves mood.

Here are 7 key benefits of how yoga impacts mental health:

Boosts self-awareness

The hippocampus and somatosensory cortex are centers of the brain that moderate anxiety and body awareness. Performing yoga increases its size. Moreover, yoga also impacts the centers of the brain responsible for self-awareness and mindfulness. Regularly performing yoga will soon improve your cognitive skills of reason and problem-solving, including your self-confidence.

Reduce stress and increases happiness

After a good yoga session, your brain releases all types of positive feelings. This is because increases dopamine, serotonin, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and oxytocin increase. You feel more energetic and creative. The condition eliminates the experience of anxiety. In fact, the exponents of yoga firmly believe yoga helps with mental illness. This is because it decreases cortisol, the stress hormone, and increases the brain chemicals responsible for elevating mood. While cortisol is necessary to deal with self-control and disciple, it is also associated with fear and stress.

Increases cognitive ability to process information

Yoga increases cortical folding on the brain, a process highly significant among the mental benefits of yoga. Cortisol folding increases the brain’s efficiency and improves its cognitive power to process information. This makes your brain’s processing speed faster and enhances memory to make decisive and quicker decisions.

Boosts overall intelligence

Studies have found that regular asana practice increases the connection between the brain cells and the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (or GABA). Anxiety and Depression have both been linked with low GABA levels. Increased cell connections in the brain promote better cognitive functionality and better memory. This also means that besides mental health, the benefits of yoga increases intelligence.

Reduces sensitivity to pain

Yoga helps your body recover from injury faster in addition to making your body strong and supple. This is a logical development related to the mind over matter perception of Yoga. Yoga’s emphasis on mediation and mindfulness impacts the brain’s parietal lobe, responsible for sensation. The parietal lobe also manages language, limb movement, and pain. A 2011 study showed that 8 weeks of meditation and mindfulness practice successfully reduced pain sensitivity to a considerable extent.

Improved activating your parasympathetic nervous system

As opposed to the human body’s fight and flight instinct, the parasympathetic system helps you wind down and relax. This is why it is referred to as the R&R or rest and digest of the body. This system helps you wind down and relax. Yoga helps maintain this system’s efficiency for better digestion, lower blood pressure, and improve the stability of life.

Reduces anxiety

Among the benefits of yoga, it is anxiety that it helps the most. An excellent exercise for relaxation, Yoga forward bends are particularly effective in releasing tension from the muscles. These help your body to relax and calm down. It does this by redirecting your focus inwards and quieting the mind. It focuses mainly on stretching the low back, hips, neck, and shoulders.

There are several good yoga exercises for anxiety, such as the Viparita Karani or legs up the wall pose. This pose requires your legs positioned up against the wall while your backrests on the ground. Savasana is yet another simple pose that targets all the areas that need to be stretched. But it would help if you focused all your attention on your breath so you can quiet your mind. You can join a yoga teacher training institute to master the techniques and become a yoga professional.

The benefits of yoga are not a myth, and Modern science is discovering there is much more to this ancient practice. The impact of yoga on mental health is indeed a proven and beneficial one that everyone suffering from anxiety should consider.