For Your Health: Ask BeWell!
The BeWell Tanger Center for Health Management, BIDMC's onsite wellness and exercise resource center, answers your questions in this ongoing column in BIDMCtoday.
BeWell will offer a FREE 2-week pass to any BIDMC staff member whose question is published in this column -- so e-mail your health-or fitness-related question today to the BeWell staff at mdacost2@bidmc.harvard.edu.
Q. Where does yoga stem from and what are some of the benefits of practicing yoga?
A. Yoga, an ancient mind-body practice with it's roots in India, has become mainstream in the U.S. culture, and can serve as both a preventive and therapeutic measure for various medical conditions, including; anxiety, insomnia, hypertension, panic attacks, arthritis and back pain. Typically, yoga includes three components; meditation, breath awareness and a physical discipline (postures), and when practiced regularly, one can expect to see lowered stress levels, improved strength, increased flexibility, increased awareness, improved cognitive function and a calm mind.