Yoga has been practiced for more than 5,000 years and currently, close to 11 million Americans are enjoying its health benefits. Yoga classes focus on learning physical poses, called Asanas; these include breathing techniques and together create the greatest benefits by enabling you to develop your flexibility, strength and balance.

When some people think of yoga, they imagine having to stretch like a gymnast. That makes them worry that they’re too old, unfit or “tight” to do yoga. The truth is you’re never too old to improve flexibility and strength. The series of yoga poses work by safely stretching your muscles. This releases the lactic acid that builds up with muscle use and causes stiffness, tension, pain, and fatigue. In addition, yoga increases the range of motion in joints. It may also increase the lubrication in the joints. The outcome is a sense of ease and fluidity throughout your body. Yoga stretches not only your muscles but all of the soft tissues of your body. That includes ligaments, tendons and the fascia sheath that surrounds your muscles. And no matter your level of yoga, you most likely will see benefits in a very short period of time.

With increased flexibility and strength comes better posture. Most standing and sitting poses develop core strength. That’s because you’re counting on your deep abdominals to support and maintain each pose. With a stronger core, you’re more likely to sit and stand “tall.”

Because of the deep, mindful breathing that yoga involves, lung capacity often improves. This in turn can improve basic breathing, sports performance and endurance. Most forms of yoga emphasize deepening and lengthening your breath. This stimulates the relaxation response-feeling less stress and more connected to the breath from within the body.

Perhaps one of the most studied areas of the health benefits of yoga is its effect on heart disease. Yoga has long been known to lower blood pressure and slow the heart rate. A slower heart rate can benefit people with hypertension, heart disease and stroke. On a biochemical level, studies point to a possible anti-oxidant effect from yoga. And yoga has been associated with decreased cholesterol and triglyceride levels as well as a boost in immune system function.

Yoga benefits other chronic medical conditions, relieving symptoms of asthma, back pain, insomnia, and arthritis.

The meditative practices through yoga help in achieving an emotional balance through relaxing and detachment. What it means is that meditation creates conditions, where you are not affected by the happenings around you. This in turn creates a remarkable calmness and a positive outlook, which also has tremendous benefits on the physical health of the body.