4 Reasons to Commit to a Daily Yoga Practice

1. A daily reboot for your mind.

The same way you reboot your computer when it starts to get overloaded, a daily yoga practice acts as a daily reboot for your mind. No matter what’s happening, how overwhelmed I feel or how busy I imagine I am, my daily practice always makes me feel better. I don’t always enjoy doing it, but usually within a couple of minutes of starting, the magic begins, I regain my perspective and suddenly, life doesn’t seem so stressful. I literally feel like it reboots my thinking and my emotional state. This has been particularly helpful during all the uncertainty of the pandemic and with the limitations of the lockdowns. This daily reboot means even the bad days don’t get that bad.

2. A sense of stability.

Researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine discovered that yoga changes the brain’s chemistry. Published in Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, their study reports that yoga triggers the release of the brain chemical gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), known as the brain’s calming chemical. It’s official: yoga makes you calm.  And while the scientific link to yoga and the brain is important, even more relevant is the actual experience.

I’m a generally stable person, but as I’ve changed jobs, countries and had people come in and out of my life, there have been plenty of moments when I’ve started to feel overwhelmed. But it’s never felt unmanageable, because every day I go back to my breath, reconnect with my body and process some of the energy of my emotions. Someone once asked me where “home” is for me. I thought for a minute and then answered “it’s my daily practice.” This is where I go to feel relaxed and secure. It stabilizes me.

3. Huge physical benefits, particularly in strengthening the breath.

The physical benefits range from increased flexibility to muscle toning and from higher energy to stronger lungs. The most transformative effect for me was the change in my breath.

I grew up with severe asthma so breathing was not always my strong point. That has changed completely over the last 12 years. The more I do my yoga practice, the more I understand everything starts and ends with the breath. With greater control over my breathing, I feel very little anxiety these days, and my physical endurance is better than it was when I was in my 20s. It feels good to have so much energy, and this energy makes it possible for me to enjoy life and pursue my goals.

4. It makes you more “you.”

This is the least tangible and yet most important benefit.  It works differently for different people but in my situation, it’s observable. My life looks completely different.

When I look at my life now and my life 12 years ago, I feel like the accountant sitting in an office in San Francisco was like a shadow of my true self. It wasn’t fake, but it wasn’t the full me. These days, I feel like the full me. When people ask about my story, I credit my decision to move from San Francisco to Athens to my Kundalini Yoga practice. Same thing for my career change from a CFO to a Kundalini Yoga/Enneagram instructor and writer. I’m grateful for this more radiant version of my life. I’m not the only one to report this alignment. Long-time Kundalini Yoga practitioners reference how their practice gives them a stronger sense of themselves and makes them feel more alive and fully present.