Yoga for Skin
Yoga meaning “yoke” or “union” is a spiritual practice that has originated from ancient India that also targets physical and mental well-being. Starting off with yoga every morning and making it a routine on a daily basis can show a tremendous change in your wellness circle. Such as your physical wellbeing, specifically strengthening your skin.
Practicing yoga can lead to a cutaneous flushing or ‘glow’ due to vasodilation (enlargement of the blood vessels), which leads to increased blood flow to the skin, providing it with more oxygen and nutrients.
Another reason as to why yoga is so beneficial to the skin is it takes away the stress that causes the irritation and blemishes on the skin. Stress is one of the biggest reasons why the skin has acne and noticeable blemishes and remains like that for a prolonged duration. Doing these exercises and yoga positions listed below help with the removal of stress and the unfortunate factors caused by the stress throughout the body.
Breathing exercises that benefit the skin:
Anulom Vilom is an excellent breathing exercise that helps control and remove stress. It really targets the skin and helps remove the stress as the other breathing exercises also do.
Kapalbhati is a breathing exercise that helps prevent or even clear up acne. It helps remove toxins inside the body, and helps give the skin a new and refreshed look. This exercise also focuses on the process of slowing down aging.
Like the other exercises, Sheetkari Pranayama is an exercise whose objective is helping the flow of oxygen get to the skin. This exercise helps with a cool, clear, toned skin.
Yoga positions that benefit the skin:
Trikonasana, also known as triangle, pose, allows more oxygen to access the skin and create the skin to be regenerated and fresh. This pose helps open up the organs such as the lungs, chest, and even the heart.
Bhujangasana, also known as cobra pose, again like the triangle pose helps more oxygen get to the skin and help reduce stress causing all of the skin issues.
Sarvangasana, also known as shoulder pose, helps with improving the blood circulation in the head giving great circulation to the face. Benefits from doing this position daily is that it helps with removing acne spots, dark circles around the eyes, and gives the skin a different feeling/texture.
Incorporating yoga practice into your routine is a great way to improve your health from the inside, out. If you plan on having a daily routine of yoga, make sure to do it at least 20-30 minutes each session and drink plenty of water.
Written by Aditi Singh
