I definitely know how it feels when I leave the yoga mat with ease, and I'm sure you also love the feeling in your body after a good yoga class, but have you ever thought about why it feels so good?

Here are 3 good reasons why your body will be happy with yoga.

1. Yoga addresses the rigid culture in which we live.

The Western world has become a sedentary society, which is why yoga is so important: its focus is on breath and movement, and research shows that increased movement in a sedentary society is absolutely essential for health. Yoga gets us moving, and most of us pay no attention to our breath in our day to day life, the awareness to breath cultivated through yoga can help us manage the stresses of every day life.

2. Yoga trains the mind.

With a sedentary society comes a confused mind: because our bodies are inactive, our minds are in constant activity. Yoga quiets the mind because there are so many focus points that help train the mind: the breath, movements, eye focus, postures, and sequences.

At first we focus on the breath, and then, when the mind has learned the ability to concentrate, we are able to focus on several things at once. Step by step, we expand the mind through yoga. Without control, the mind jumps all over the place, distracting us from working on the parts of ourselves that can actually help us develop. Through yoga we quiet the mind and develop the ability to process what comes up during a yoga practice – the good as well as the more challenging things.

3. Yoga teaches us how to take care of ourselves.

Yoga teaches us to be loving towards ourselves. How we can be compassionate towards ourselves, humans basically have many self-destructive and self-limiting tendencies. We are often our own worst critics. Through yoga we are confronted with the different sides of ourselves, so we have the opportunity to see them.

Inside our muscles, are stored the memories of all emotions we have ever experienced: sadness, fear, anger, etc. Through the yoga positions, we can work with these memories and thereby process our past. It is yoga that allows us to let go and release the emotions. Practicing yoga means engaging in a healing process: mentally, emotionally and physically. Yoga helps us learn to accept all the parts of ourselves that are not as developed as we might like them to be.

Read more: 10 reasons to why you should practice yoga

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