Many countries these days are celebrating world yoga day. We should be proud of it. Yoga has become our tradition and culture, especially in Asia. Moreover, contemporary belief and a little touch of modernity to the ancient knowledge and wisdom have never harmed anybody. This could be the reason many yoga practitioners and yoga enthusiasts prefer to practice Aqua yoga.
If you are practicing yoga for a long time, you might get bored of doing same poses over and over again. You might be interested adding some special touch with your traditional yoga forms. So, it’s time to dive deep in the pool to make your mind and body more lucid and fresh. Yes, underwater yoga is also a form of workout, but it will give you some benefits that you can’t get practicing yoga on the ground.
This yoga has been spared all over the world in different names, like aqua yoga, water yoga, underwater yoga etc. Yes, workout under water is not new to us, but this yoga under the water is truly awesome. If you haven’t tried it before, you should do it at least once in life. Here, we will discuss the following things:
- Why Should You Practice Yoga Underwater?
- Underwater Yoga Benefits
- No Gravitational Pull
- Improves Heart Efficiency
- Combined With Yoga And Weight Training
- Underwater Yoga for Weight Loss
- What Shouldn’t You Do Practicing Underwater Yoga?
Why Should You Practice Yoga Underwater?
When you stand chest deep in water, your body only bears 20 to 25 percent of its weight. So you will feel nearly weightless and whatever motion or pose you like to take, you can. While practicing yoga on the ground, you might not maintain the body weight. But in water, your body will be weight less. You will be able to move your body parts in less effort. This is one of the reasons, people like aquatic yoga practice. There are many benefits of practicing workout underwater.
Spending time in water is good for reducing bone and joint pain. It reduces stress on your muscles. Due to the reason, yoga under water is often used in physical therapy, not only to help with arthritis pain but also regular recovery from injuries.
Yogis from all over the world like aquatic yoga practice, because it is enjoyable and beneficial for mind and body. It is also seen people suffering from joint or bone pain gets more benefits of water yoga. You might be a beginner or an advanced yoga practitioner. You can practice water yoga at least once in a week.
Underwater Yoga Benefits
Doing yoga under water is no doubt a different experience. Your body and mind will feel more buoyant. Thus, it would be easy for you to hold positions and stay balanced. Sans the weight of gravity, you will be able to focus all of your energy on stretching and strengthening your body.
If you feel uncomfortable doing a particular yoga pose, or maybe multiple poses, taking them into the water may help you nail them. Among the other benefits of water yoga, practicing certain yoga postures in the water can help easily transition the postures to your land practice.
Moreover, doing the poses under water can calm your muscles. You can also practice them in a cool as well as comfortable environment. Summer can be the best time for aquatic yoga practice.
No Gravitational Pull
Virtually, water nullifies the effect of gravity. It acts as an opposite force, thus pushes your body towards the upward direction. It is seen that people suffering from back pain, muscle and bone pain, and have low stamina, benefitted from aqua yoga.
They need minimum flexibility in such settings. If you are suffering from lower or upper back pain, muscle or joint pain, then water yoga is a boon for you. Yoga underwater helps people suffering from arthritis, chronic health issues, spinal cord injuries and more. Though, in such cases, you need to consult a yoga therapist to avoid unwanted injury.
Improves Heart Efficiency
Science unfolded that our heart performs better when we are in water, at leaststand chest deep in water.Actually, water puts pressure on all body parts equally; therefore, it helps the heart to pump blood in an effective way. It is good for hearth health. The blood circulation is very, very helpful to get ideal outcomes from yogic postures, which is why yogis like underwater yoga. At the same time, water reduces blood pressure, thus, heart rate builds our stamina.
Combined With Yoga And Weight Training
Fitness experts and yoga therapists like to give a modern touch with traditional yoga practice. They like to reap the aqua yoga benefits that are truly immense. Whether yoga and weight training combined then you get perfectly balanced workout.
It goes without saying that weight training increases one’s power and speed. On the other hand, yoga increases endurance. You can try yoga and weight training simultaneously, better to say, back to back in land based workout.
Contrary to this weight training workout, you can also perform aqua yoga, which is often called water yoga. You must know that water acts as a natural weight training mechanism because of its resistance power. In the time you move your body underwater, the resistance of water acts to that of weight training.
Underwater Yoga for Weight Loss
If you are tired of losing weight, tried this and that workout, took this and that supplements, then aquatic yoga practice could be your choice. This time you will sure be benefitted. Like aqua spinning, aqua zumba and aqua aerobics, aqua yoga has gained its popularity as best weight loss training.
Truly, nothing more relaxing than yoga! And, when you combine it with water, it gives you an enjoyable time. This is especially beneficial for people who cannot do yoga because of back pain, joint, bone or muscle pain. If you are one of them, then underwater yoga is the one that you must try.
It is seen that doing yoga underwater is easy and good for your pain, joints and muscle stiffness. As a matter of fact, underwater can make your body stretch easily and be more flexible.
What Shouldn’t You Do Practicing Underwater Yoga?
Needless to mention, there are a lots of benefits of aqua yoga, but you shouldn’t practice it without consulting with a yoga therapist. It would be good for you to avoid unwanted injury. Does not really matter how interesting and exciting underwater yoga sounds, it can be harmful too if you don’t perform it in the right way.
Yoga is all about mind and body connection. It coordinates your mind and body, so that you can get the benefits from inside out. It also involves Pranayama aka breathing technique. Pranayama mainly focuses on O2 and CO2 exchange. It also involves delicate bronchioles-alveolar tissues.
So yoga underwater runs on the same ways or techniques of breathing. Under the supervision of a yoga therapist, you can perform certain yoga poses with breath control under water. Your therapist or trainer will help you choose the right postures according your age and health conditions. The ideal level to practice yoga under water is chest-deep water, no more than 10 to 12 meter deep in water.
