9 Benefits of Yoga for Men That Will Change Your Life

The benefits of Yoga for men are virtually endless and if you haven’t discovered them yet, then it is about time that you did. Yoga may not seem very challenging at first and to some, it may seem like a waste of time, but that is definitely not the case. Yoga is very useful for a number of different reasons including the health of your body, your mind, as well as the connection between the two. If you have never tried Yoga before, you might just do so after you have read what we have to say. Better sexual prowess, increased digestive function, and a happier persona are just some of the many benefits of Yoga that we’re going to talk about. So what exactly can Yoga do for you?

What Is Yoga?

In simplest terms, the word “Yoga” is Hindu for “union”. What is meant by union is the union of the mind and the body. Therefore the practice of Yoga involves various poses, stretches, meditation, and breathing techniques which all make for a healthier mind, body, and a better connection between the two.

Benefit #1: Aids In Digestion

Yoga is not just good for your muscles because it can also help improve your digestive health, and it does so in a few different ways. Many people suffer from bloating, gas, constipation, and other forms of digestive trouble. A good way to deal with these digestive issues is to practice Yoga on a regular basis.

One of the ways in which Yoga is great for digestion is because it provides your abdominal area with a massage, plus it also strengthens the abdominal muscles too. This helps to improve blood circulation in the abdominal area and in the digestive system. That combined with stronger muscles will reduce stomach and digestion problems, not to mention it’s easier to go to the bathroom as well.

Another way that Yoga helps to improve digestion is by twisting and turning around your inner organs, specifically your liver. Your liver is the organ which helps to rid your body of toxins. Fewer toxins in your system make for a much healthier digestive system. Many of the poses that you do in Yoga helps to put a squeeze on your liver, thus making it work quicker and improving its function too.

Yoga also aids in digestive health because of the specific breathing techniques used. These breathing techniques are like a massage for your digestive system and work to soothe it, make things run quicker, and get rid of all of those stomach problems. The breathing encourages the natural movement of your bowels and digestive system. Another good part about Yoga is that it helps to relieve stress, something which can also be a cause of digestion issues. As you can see, Yoga can help improve the function of your digestive system in various different ways.

Benefit #2: Strengthens The Immune System

You may think that Yoga is only good for strengthening your muscles, but that is not so. This type of exercise is also great for your immune system. To give you a quick scientific explanation, the defensive cells in your body, the white blood cells, are transferred around the body by the lymphatic system. Therefore, the more the lymphatic system works the more defensive cells we have moving around our bodies. Yoga really does have the ability to boost your immune system.

The lymph nodes don’t work like blood flow and they don’t transfer these front line troops to infection through our body in the way that blood does. Your heart doesn’t have all that much to do with it. In fact, these defensive cells get transferred throughout our bodies when our muscles contract. The more our muscles contract, the more foot soldiers our lymphatic system can send all around our bodies.

As you probably know, Yoga involves many different poses which involve flexing and contracting all of the muscles in our bodies. Thus, doing Yoga regularly actually helps our bodies to produce more defenders towards disease, infection, and other illnesses and to send them through our bodies on a tour of duty.

One specific way that this works is when you do inversions. These are Yoga positions where your head is below your heart. These positions let those front line defenders better enter your respiratory system, a place that contains many germs and other toxic materials. Once you release the inversion and return to an upright position, gravity works to drain the lymph and flush out all of those germs and toxins, thus improving your ability to fight off disease in the process.

Benefit #3: Improves Your Other Workouts

Another way in which Yoga is beneficial for men is because it helps to improve all other aspects of physical activity that you may engage in. As you may know, Yoga is a great way to improve your stamina, flexibility, and muscle strength. You having stronger muscles that can work for longer means that you will be able to do a more strenuous bodyweight or weight lifting routine, thus increasing your muscle building results drastically.

Doing yoga also increases your flexibility, mobility, and overall range of motion. This increases your access to muscle fibers and helps to increase hypertrophy in your muscles. Hypertrophy is the process your muscles go through to get bigger and stronger with every exercise that you do. Yoga can literally help your muscles grow faster and stronger, not just because of the exercises themselves, but because of the underlying effects they have on your body.

Moreover, Yoga also helps to improve your respiratory system. The specific breathing techniques utilized in this discipline help to enlarge your lungs and increase their efficiency. For anybody who does cardio or aerobic activity on a regular basis, Yoga will help you to be able to last longer thanks to stronger lungs. More oxygen in your system leads to improved muscle function and stamina. There is also the fact that Yoga helps to keep your muscles limber and stretched out, thus helping to reduce the chances of injury while doing other exercises.

Benefit #4: Reduces Food Cravings

The next thing that Yoga can help you with is in terms of food cravings and thus with weight loss too. Yoga is a great way to pass the time and to keep busy. The busier you are the less you will be tempted to eat, especially all of those really unhealthy foods. Instead of eating unhealthy snacks and doing nothing, it’s much better to do some Yoga followed by some healthy fruits or veggies.

Yoga can also help to reduce food cravings because of the stress factor. Stress and unhappiness cause many people to eat and overindulge on certain foods. Well, as has been shown, Yoga is a great way to reduce stress, thus reducing the need to literally eat away your emotions. Yoga increases your mind body connection and makes for a healthier whole, which in turn leads you to be more mindful of the way you eat. Remember, a busy body is a healthy body, at least in this case!

Benefit #5: Stress Reduction

Yoga, of course, is not only good for your body because it is also a great tool to help put your mind at ease. Yoga is all about that mind – body connection, making you be more in tune with your body and making for a healthier mind. A large part of Yoga is relaxing and, of course, relaxation is the opposite of stress. Yoga helps to reduce stress through a variety of poses, breathing techniques, and through meditation too. These 3 things combined help to make your mind be at peace, more relaxed and focused on your own health instead of trivial issues. Yoga makes you slow down, breathe, and just focus on the moment.

Stress is very unhealthy and can lead to things like strokes, heart conditions, high blood pressure, anxiety, and even depression too. Therefore if you practice Yoga on the regular you can reduce your stress and ultimately reduce the chances of suffering from stress induced illnesses.

There is also the fact that performing physical exercise also causes your brain to release endorphins. Endorphins are chemicals released by the brain which cause you to feel happy; this is that runner’s high that people talk about. Well, it’s not just a runner’s high, and this endorphin fuelled happiness can also be triggered by things like a good Yoga routine. Less stress and more endorphins lead to a reduction in depression, anxiety, and will help you get a better night’s sleep too.

Benefit #6: Increases Your Productivity

We all suffer from those days where we just can’t think, get anything done, or be productive at all, things which are not good if you live in a fast paced environment or have a demanding job. Luckily for you, Yoga can actually help improve your overall productivity and it does this in a few different ways. It is actually shown that companies who offer Yoga to their employees end up having reduced health care premiums and medical costs, not to mention more business success, all thanks to the benefits it brings people.

As we mentioned before, Yoga is all about that mind – body connection and forces you to use your mind to complete the exercises. This is not only good for doing the downward dog but is also great for the other aspects in your life which require a sound mind. Yoga helps to increase your focus and concentration, mainly through proper breathing and meditation. This, in turn, trains your mind to be able to focus better, thus increasing your creativity and productivity at the workplace.

As we also mentioned before, Yoga helps to reduce stress, anxiety, depression and helps you get a better sleep too. These are all factors which play a crucial role in how productive you are throughout the day. The happier you are, the less stress you have, and the more you can focus, all benefits which Yoga brings you, the more productive and creative you are going to be throughout the day. Yoga doesn’t just help you breathe and relax in the moment, it actually helps to improve brain function and provides for increased mental clarity too!

Benefit #7: It’s A Full Body Workout

Perhaps one of the biggest benefits that you can get from doing Yoga on a regular basis is that it provides you with a full body workout. Yoga, of course, involves many different stretches and positions which require you to breathe right and engage various muscle groups in your body. There are in fact some very intense Yoga exercises which will push you to the limit.

This type of exercise is considered to be a weight bearing exercise, a bodyweight exercise, and a resistance exercise all in one. This is because Yoga involves you using your own body weight as resistance and the various poses force you to engage your muscles in order to hold them. This trains your muscles very well and can be a lot better than a simple weight lifting or bodyweight routine. You are using your own body weight as resistance and thus toning your muscles in the process.

There are so many different types of Yoga as well as poses to be done and when combined together they will target every single muscle in your body.

Don’t take Yoga for granted because some of the poses may look easy, but once you do them you will realize that it takes a whole lot of strength to keep going with some of them. Not only do these poses train your muscles to be stronger and better at endurance, but they also promote flexibility too, thus adding another beneficial factor.

Yet that is still not all because certain types of Yoga also count as a form of cardiovascular exercise. We already mentioned that Yoga involves proper breathing. Well that proper breathing, while holding various poses, will over time train your heart and lungs to be more efficient.

Therefore it can also improve your cardiovascular health and in the process make your body more efficient at aerobic activity too. Yoga can do so many things for you all at once that it would be a shame not to do it on a regular basis.

Benefit #8: It’s Cheap And Versatile

Something else that should be quickly mentioned about Yoga is that it is very cheap. All you really need to get started is a Yoga mat, that plus your own determination too. A Yoga mat isn’t all that expensive so that’s definitely a plus. Sure you could go to the gym and take some Yoga classes, but that isn’t really necessary. YouTube and Google are both chalked full of Yoga videos that you can follow along with, all of which are completely free of cost. There are many great and affordable yoga DVDs too.

Not only is Yoga cheap, but it is also versatile. This is because as long as you have a Yoga mat and a little bit of extra room, you can do Yoga anywhere. You can do Yoga in the break room at work, in your bedroom, or in a park too. Unlike lifting weights which requires weight sets, a lot of room or a gym membership, Yoga can be done anywhere and it can be done practically free of cost.

Benefit #9: Yoga Improves Male Libido

One of the benefits of Yoga that men will like the most is the fact that it can help improve both sexual drive and performance as well. One of the ways Yoga can help with sex is because it helps to increase blood flow in the body. Of course, blood flow is very important for men in terms of getting an erection. More blood circulation leads to a harder and stronger erection, something that every man can definitely appreciate.

Sexual dysfunction can also be related to stress, anxiety, and depression. Since Yoga helps to relieve those issues, it can ultimately lead to better sexual performance and desire as well. Plus since Yoga makes you more flexible and gives you stronger muscles, it can also help you be a better lover in bed. Those who believe in the deepest tenants of Yoga also say that the various poses help to unblock channels in your body, thus allowing the sexual energy to flow. If you don’t do Yoga for any of the other benefits, you should definitely do it for this one!

Conclusion

If you still don’t believe us about the vast benefits of Yoga for men, maybe you should just give it a try. We promise that you won’t be disappointed with the results you see. Just a few shorts weeks of daily Yoga will leave you stronger, with more stamina, mentally healthier, and will even help increase your sexual function as well. There are so many different benefits that come along with engaging in a regular Yoga routine that once you start you will never again want to stop.

If you have any comments or questions for us, we would be more than happy to hear them out!