Amazing for maintaining mindfulness, your inner balance, strength, and endurance, yoga is able to relieve stress and pain, strengthen your core, muscles and joints.

It can also:

• Can improve your heart health

• Can reduce inflammations

• Can reduce stress

• Can enhance the quality of your sleep quality  

• Can reduce chronic pain

• Improves breathing

• Promotes healthy eating

Types of yoga

With over 100 different forms of yoga, it may seem hard to choose which one is right for you.

Some of the most popular forms of yoga are:

• Hatha. This form is actually most often associated with yoga and combines a series of basic movements with breathing.

• Vinyasa. A series of poses that flow smoothly into one another.

• Ashtanga involves poses combined with a special breathing technique.

• Power yoga. A faster, higher-intensity practice that builds muscle.

• Bikram or "hot yoga". This is a series of 26 challenging poses performed in a room heated to a high temperature.

• Iyengar. A type of yoga that uses props like blocks, straps, and chairs to help you move your body into the proper alignment.

Science

Research at Harvard Medical School has found that regular yoga practice appears to correlate with increased well-being, including better sleep, better body awareness, weight loss, and greater happiness. By improving mindfulness, it helps to boost compassion, gratitude, and "flow" states, all of which contribute to greater happiness. Early evidence suggests that yoga may even slow aging a cellular level, perhaps through its stress-busting effects.

Yoga even helps with full-fledged insomnia. While following general advice on sleep hygiene, people in one study fell asleep 37% faster after 8 weeks of yoga compared with 28% for those who didn’t practice yoga.  

So when is it the best time to do yoga?

Always.

You can do yoga on any day of your cycle, as it has been proven to be able to relieve cramping, backache, and premenstrual symptoms.

If you’re pregnant, you should consult your ob-gyn regarding practicing yoga, as there is a special form of yoga for pregnant women and in some cases, it may not be recommended.  

Sources:

Increased well-being: Another reason to try yoga, Harvard Health Publishing of Harvard Medical School

13 Benefits of Yoga That Are Supported by Science, healthline.com

Yoga, webmd.com