Yoga is often praised for the physical benefits it provides. It can strengthen your body, improve flexibility, aid in weight loss, and generally make you feel good. But just how good can it make you feel? It’s benefits can go beyond physical health and impact emotional health as well; maybe enough to keep your sanity intact.

Here are 10 ways yoga keeps you from losing your cool and flipping out:

1. Reduces Stress

It helps increase focus and concentration. This can be beneficial in reducing stress by drawing the focus to something else. Research showed that pregnant women practicing yoga had lower stress levels, which is beneficial to both mom and baby. Less stress means a happier you.

2. Teaches Self Control

You need a lot of self control to practice yoga. It takes concentration to hold a contorted position and tune out the distractions around you. Regular yoga will help that self control spread into other areas of life.

3. Brings Calmness

If you’ve ever done yoga, then you know it has a calming effect. The breathing and meditation are conducive to a calm mind. People who meditate literally have different brains to those who don’t meditate. The hippocampus and posterior cingulate cortex differed, which is tied to memory and mind-wandering. Meditators had a smaller medulla, which is associated with the “fight or flight” response and a stress levels.

4. Curbs Hostility

It’s difficult to be hostile when you’re in child’s pose or any other position really. It helps to center and calm you, which is a great tool to limit and curb hostility flare ups. Psychiatric patients who practiced yoga had significant improvement in their anger and hostility. In turn, a happier you can lead to lower blood pressure and a healthier you.

5. Reduces Depression

There are a few theories as to why yoga can help with depression. Exercise is shown to actually make people happier by releasing endorphins and essentially making the brain and the body feel good. It is specifically improved depression by 50% in one study, and overall mood by 65%, that’s pretty significant.

6. Positive Outlook

A pessimistic attitude is tied to fear and stress, some things that yoga can help you deal with. It helps you learn how to cope with stress and hone in on staying calm. These are coping strategies that are present in the optimist’s brain.

7. Improves Mood

Total well-being is improved with yoga, which in turn boosts your mood. Less stress, endorphins from exercise, and the clear mind of meditation can all contribute to a feel-good mood.

8. Reduces Anxiety

A build of up stress can lead to anxiety. Regular yoga can reduce that anxiety, and that same study on psychiatric patients showed a great improvement in both the tension and anxiety they were feeling.

9. Connects Body and Mind

Yoga is one of the few exercises that truly works the mind and body. It takes concentration and focus of the mind as well as the cooperation of your body. The marriage between these two can leave you feeling centered and grounded.

10. Improves Confusion

Yoga has the ability to clear the mind and has even been shown to improve concentration in as short as eight weeks time. It’s also reduced feelings of confusion and bewilderment. You can make more sound decisions with a clear head.

Curious About Learning More?

Whether you’re a newbie to yoga or an old pro, you’ll find great resources, classes, and more at The Yoga Expo. It’s the largest festival of it’s kind with unlimited classes, live music, local and sustainable foods, and great products.

It’s being held in three locations:

Los Angeles- Sunday January 3rd, 2016

Los Angeles Convention Center

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Fort Lauderdale- April 16th, 2016

Fort Lauderdale Convention Center

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Santa Clara- July 23rd, 2016

Santa Clara Convention Center

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Have you tried yoga? How did it impact your mood?