Yoga and Massage Can Help With:
Overall Health
Yoga and Massage both help calm the body, mind and spirit and allow the body to heal. Most notably, both practices reduce pain, eliminate toxins, improve circulation and enhance the body's immunity just through a focused approach of body, mind and breath connection as well as through touch. Skin has numerous nerve endings - up to about 10,000 per square centimeter - which helps the body respond to and reinforce pain relief and other therapeutic responses.
*Does Massage Therapy Work?, PainScience.com
Boosts Immune Function
Yoga and Massage can boost ones immune function by helping the body develop healthy and strong cells to ward off illnesses. Many twisting postures in yoga help detoxify the internal organs and remove toxins in the body. And, with regular massage, the body is able to produce neutralizing cells that attack foreign cells that cause viral and bacterial illnesses in the body.
*PubMed Central
Improve Sleep and Reduce Fatigue
Massage clams down the central nervous system and allows the body to rest, relax and digest while channeling the parasympathetic nervous system. And the effects of massage are long-lasting according to a study that showed a significant number remained anxiety-free from six to 18-months.
*Prevention
Improve Balance and Flexibility
A recent study on 26 male college athletes showed a significant increase in several measures of flexibility and balance, compared to the control group.
Another study assigned 66 elderly participants to either practice yoga or calisthenics. After one year, the yoga group's flexibility and balance increased significantly by nearly four times the calisthenics group.
*PubMed Central
Weight Control
Yoga teaches mindfulness. This thoughtfulness and connection with your body can help you recognize your body's cues to hunger and fullness. Yoga also stimulates the liver, activates the thyroid gland and balances PH in the body through certain postures.
Ease Stress
Massage and yoga can help ease tension and stress in the body by simply connecting with your breath and working with the touch receptors in the body.
In one study, PubMed Central, 287 college students took a 15-week class where they were taught various yoga poses and breathing exercises. At the end of the study, they had a significant increase in vital capacity.
Heart Health
A regular practice of yoga can lower blood cholesterol, blood glucose and blood pressure levels.
In a study, patients with heart failure who went through an eight-week yoga program showed improvement in exercise capacity and quality of life. They also had lower blood levels of markers for inflammation, which contributes to heart disease.
*Hopkins Medicine, The Yoga-Heart Connection
Helps Skin Glow
The friction created by various massage strokes and the manipulation of the tissues and skin with lotion and/or oil, there is an increase of blood flow in the body, reduction of dead skin cells and release of impurities. All of these factors help brighten the appearance and overall health of your skin by enabling the body to bring more nutrients to the muscles and tissues, removing dullness and hydrating the skin.