NEW! Yoga Fit on My Fitness App

Yoga is all the rage these days and has been for quite some time - with good reason. The health benefits of yoga are numerous and it’s absolutely a workout you should add into your fitness regimen. 

However, before we discuss the benefits and how to incorporate yoga into your life let’s first look at its origin to give us some context. 

The word yoga was first mentioned in the sacred text, the Rig Veda. The Vedas are a collection of texts containing songs, mantras and rituals to be used by Brahmans, the Vedic priests. The most renowned of the Yogic scriptures is the Bhagavad-Gîtâ, composed around 500 B.C.E.

The original goal of yoga was to teach the sacrifice of the ego through self-knowledge, action (karma yoga) and wisdom (jnana yoga).  Overtime however, yoga masters evolved it into a system of practices designed to rejuvenate the body and prolong life while still maintaining its meditative and spiritual core. 

Yoga now has grown into many different schools or styles that tend to emphasize different benefits of the practice.  Ultimately though, no matter what form you choose to practice, you will definitely reap the benefits of improved flexibility, strength, posture, blood flow, and mind body connection. 

There are a few caveats however.  Yoga, like any form of exercise is most beneficial when incorporated into a well rounded fitness regimen that emphasizes multiple modalities of fitness. This is why the yoga program in the JM My Fitness App incorporates HIIT workouts and HIIT intervals into the workouts to boost fat metabolism by incorporating speed, and power into your workouts as well. 

Plus, if you just do yoga your body will adapt to it slowing your progress.  And, you could develop overuse injuries if you hammer the same exercises repetitively without proper rotation of moves, progression of the workout, and strategic rest days. 

It’s also important to start yoga at the appropriate intensity level.  So if you’re new to it take a beginner class, even if you’re pretty fit just so you can learn the proper from for each pose.