Differences Between Yoga and Other Exercises

There are many who associate Yoga with some form of exercises attached to Hinduism.
Yoga at a basic level is a combination of physical and breathing exercises (Pranayama) and meditations. It involves several the posture of your body in different positions. While positioning your body, you inhale and exhale thoroughly, which improves the flexibility of the body. Breathing stimulates your muscles and different postures make your joints exercise thus making them more flexible and movable. When muscles are worked upon during yoga, it makes them powerful.

Weak muscles can be toned through these exercises when done regularly. Thorough breathing helps in passing maximum oxygen to the bones and joints and maximum removal of carbon dioxide. This process is known as detoxification of the body. Detoxification, as the term suggests, helps the body stay healthier and younger. The body which you might experience as stiff in the beginning might be felt warm, soft and pliable. When one exercises other than yoga, he or she massages the body externally. But yoga is the only form of exercise that massages or lubricates all your organs internally as well. Massaging always improves blood circulation which means every organ of your body now gets more oxygen, and oxygen is the source of life. Even the glandular system of the body is massaged and stimulated. The prostate glands which are hardly stimulated throughout your lifetime, get stimulated by yoga postures and breathing techniques. This stimulation and massaging of organs protect us from the invasion of different diseases.
Yoga gives immense relaxation to all parts of body and mind. It reduces the stress on the mind and helps in reducing the signs of depression.
As yoga is a combination of meditation and breathing, it harmonizes the body with the mind. Many body disorders which occur due to the improper synchronization of the body with the mind can be controlled or get back through yoga exercises. Yoga does what no medicine can do. A person is stressed and comes under emotional imbalance due to the daily stresses of life. Through meditation, a person can achieve peace of mind, physical and mental calmness and a positive outlook. Therefore yoga does not only count towards physical fitness but also towards mental fitness.