Weighing the Benefits of Yoga with Weights

 

Before you take the plunge and give yoga with weights a try, you may be

interested in knowing what the many health benefits of yoga with weights
are. Here’s a catalog of health benefits you may experience if you devote
yourself to yoga with weights.
Making you stronger
Yoga makes you stronger and tones your muscles, but by adding the weights,
you give additional boost to the muscle strengthening and toning powers of
yoga. When you stress a muscle with exercise or a repeated activity, the muscle
increases in strength and diameter as the muscle fiber expands. In other
words, the muscle is toned. The weight-bearing aspect of yoga with weights
improves the oxygenation of muscles, which promotes the muscles’ growth
and repair. The stretching improves the flexibility and health of muscles and
tendons. Yoga with weights also reduces the risk of muscle tears and strains
because weightlifting, when properly done, integrates the muscles closer to
the bones.
Building your core strength
You read a lot about your “core” and “core strength” in this book. When we
write about your core, we’re referring to the muscles of your trunk and torso
that support your spine. These muscles are the major players in balancing
and coordination. The core muscles also support your shoulders and hips.
Most people don’t know it, but the abdominal muscles, which are also core
muscles, are very important for supporting your spine.
Unless your core muscles are strong, you can’t develop the muscles of your
arms and legs to their fullest potential, in much the same way that tree
branches can’t grow big unless the trunk of the tree is strong enough to support
the branches.
Your core muscles are responsible for good posture. They keep your back
straight and your shoulders square, and they keep you from slouching. Your
core muscles also support and protect your internal organs. For example, if

the muscles around your back and abdomen aren’t strong, sitting up straight

for long periods of time is hard, because the muscles of your back and
abdomen take some of the weight-bearing stress off the smaller muscles in
your head, neck, and even your shoulders. Without strong core muscles,
you’re more susceptible to back problems.
When most people think of getting stronger, they imagine being able to lift
heavier weights or run faster. But before you can accomplish such feats, you
need to develop the core muscles of your trunk and torso. Deep strength
begins in these core muscles — your power source, the axis around which so
many muscles move. Yoga with weights is a superb program for reaching into
the center of your body to engage, utilize, and exercise the core muscles that
really matter.
Toning your muscles
Yoga-with-weights exercises are designed to work and tone all the muscles of
your body. If you think your arms are too flabby, if you want to develop your
abdominal muscles, or if you want to strengthen your legs, you can find many
yoga-with-weights exercises that target those areas. In traditional yoga, you
can tone and refine parts of your body with exercises. The addition of
weights makes it possible to really dig into a muscle or muscle group and
work it hard. Chapter 15 describes exercises that target different body areas.

Being more beautiful

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course. But beauty is also a matter of
confidence, poise, and bearing. We’ve seen older people with wrinkles and
thinning silver hair who don’t fit the standard definition of beauty but who
are nevertheless very beautiful. These people radiate an inner glow that has
ripened during the years. They have a light in their eyes that tells you that
they’re very much alive to the world around them and living their lives in a
way that’s full of enthusiasm. They have what’s sometimes called inner
beauty or an inspired state of being.