Health Habits And Stretching
There are countless products, methods, and trends that people promise will help you to lose weight, build muscle, or look and feel better with little to no work. The truth is, however, that feeling good does take work—it requires healthy habits like regular exercise, a balanced diet, self-care, and much more.
For many people, yoga-type stretching is a way of achieving all of these things at once. Controlled movement and focussed stretching strengthens the body, stills the mind, and focuses the spirit. Movement by movement, a stretching routine trains the body and increases our physical capabilities. At the same time, it draws our attention to our internal state, enabling us to quiet ourselves down, listen to our bodies, and care for our physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs.
As we use exercise to pursue a healthy lifestyle, the powerful, natural qualities of essential oils will be useful for supporting and strengthening us. Essential oils can become an integral part of a weekly exercise routine, a healthy diet, and proper self-care. Essential oils are versatile by nature. When you incorporate essential oils into your exercise routine, your options for supporting the health of your body, mind, and spirit (inside and out) become seemingly limitless.
The Importance Of Exercising And Eating Healthy
While every individual has unique DNA, different body types, and unique health concerns and goals, it is vitally important for everyone to develop and maintain some sort of exercise routine and to fuel their body with proper nutrition. Some people go to the gym every day to get their exercise, while others prefer to play sports or spend time outdoors. Many people choose a stretching routine since it is flexible enough to accommodate a variety of needs and goals and can be done virtually anywhere.
Regardless of the form of exercise you choose, your body will benefit from the physical activity. It helps you maintain proper health, promotes a sound night’s sleep, and helps you cope with day-to-day stress. You need regular exercise to help you manage the litany of ongoing tasks, challenges, and activities you face daily.
There are countless benefits that come from regular exercise, and eating a nutritious diet only adds to these benefits. Healthy food not only acts as fuel for our bodies, but it can also protect the body against health threats, promote optimal brain function, and build important muscle mass.
It is true that we all have different bodies, health issues, and physical needs. However, a healthy lifestyle including consistent exercise and healthy eating can help anyone feel better.
Proper Body Function
As mentioned above, no two people will have exactly the same needs when it comes to exercise and diet. However, both of these elements are key factors that contribute to having an overall healthy lifestyle and supporting healthy body function. Just like there are many benefits that come from eating healthy and exercising, there are many problems that can come from failing to do so.
Of course, not every health concern can be solved by nutritious eating or doing yoga a few times a week. However, these healthy habits can do a lot to promote overall wellness. Whether your health goals relate to your weight, your stress level, or your general enjoyment of your body’s capabilities, developing healthy habits is an important part of making sure that your body functions optimally.
Setting time aside to workout and developing healthy exercising habits can be particularly hard for some people. Costs associated with gym memberships, the often-cold Canadian climate, or facing chronic pain can all present themselves as barriers to physical activity.
Incorporating a stretching and focussed breathing routine into your daily schedule is an ideal alternative to traditional forms of physical exercise such as weight lifting or jogging. Stretching routines enable you to be physically active, gain greater flexibility, and build muscle strength, which ultimately all contribute to proper body function. And, it can be done virtually anywhere. (I’ve even done stretching in an airplane in the space beside the restrooms!)
Healthy Habits And Emotional Health
In addition to significantly improving how your body looks, moves, functions, and feels, healthy exercise and good eating habits have a huge influence on your emotional health. Poor health habits and bad eating choices can lead to imbalanced emotions. Do you want to thrive emotionally? Eat well and exercise!
Those who exercise frequently attest to the positive improvement they notice in their emotional health and stability. This is especially true when your exercise routine enables you to slow down and be present at the moment, thereby giving your mind an opportunity to process, de-stress, and rest. Exercise also releases endorphins that help support your emotional health and uplift your spirit.
Adding Essential Oils To Your Healthy Habits
Essential oils can provide your body with much-needed support and wellness, particularly when they are used as part of a holistic routine to maintain a healthy lifestyle. On their own, essential oils can provide many benefits to the body. However, when combined with physical activity and proper eating, essential oils can help you feel better more holistically by working in tandem with your regular exercise and healthy eating habits.
The beauty of essential oils is that they can be tailored to any kind of workout by altering application methods and oil types to fit your needs and preferences. So whether your exercise routine includes heavy lifting, recreational sports, intense cardio, or a dusty hiking trail, you will be able to use essential oils to keep your body at peak performance.
For those who practice or are interested in practicing yoga, essential oils play a uniquely supportive role because of the ways in which yoga supports your overall health physically, emotionally, and mentally. Perhaps more so than with other forms of exercise, essential oils can be used as part of your yoga routine to support your strength, your flexibility, your stability, your grounding, and your breathing, among other things. Because of how diverse yoga is in terms of the benefits it provides, there is a greater diversity of essential oils and application methods that you can use to experience these benefits.
Which Essential Oils Are Most Useful For Fitness?
Essential oils have a wide variety of uses and benefits that make them useful for fitness—especially yoga. But how do we know which oils are the most useful? As we learn more about the characteristics of each oil, it will become easier to determine which ones are the best fit for your healthy lifestyle.
Essential Oils And Chemical Properties
The chemical properties found in essential oil are what give it its unique smell and health benefits. These properties also make an essential oil useful for particular tasks, such as cleaning or de-stressing. Every oil has a unique set of chemical components, which is what makes essential oils so versatile. With dozens of oils to choose from, and with each oil having different chemical properties to support your health goals, you will be able to tailor your essential oil experience to fit your personal preferences and needs when it comes to health, fitness, and your yoga routine.
Using Essential Oils For Soothing Purposes
Due to their chemical makeup, some essential oils can be used to provide your body with soothing comfort by creating a warming or cooling sensation when applied topically. While these oils do not change the actual temperature of the body, they are referred to as “warming” and “cooling” because of how their properties interact with nerve receptors to provide a warming or cooling sensation.
Essential oils with warming or cooling properties can be useful for athletes before, during, and after a workout, because topical application of these oils can help soothe different areas of the body that may be tense, sore, or overheating. This will be helpful for those who practice yoga regularly. Since yoga offers a healthy combination of movements that help improve strength, flexibility, and balance, your body will need a diverse set of remedies to help support it after a yoga routine. For this reason, essential oils that warm and cool the body can be hugely supportive to your body as it rests and recovers.
Warming Properties
Essential oils that are warming in nature can be extremely useful for the body. For example, an essential oil with warming properties can be used during your warm up by giving muscles and limbs a loose, flexible feeling. Using warming essential oils when preparing to exercise can help you feel more limber and ready for your workout.
This is particularly important for yoga, where the movements and use of your own body weight require you to constantly be stretching and pushing yourself beyond your static capabilities. In order to guard against injury during yoga, it is important to have a warm-up routine, and warming essential oils can easily be incorporated into whatever warm-up routine you find works best for your body and your physical needs.
Cooling Properties
Essential oils with cooling properties can be useful during your cool down or at the end of your workout. By providing your body with a cooling sensation, these types of essential oils will help soothe different areas of your body after strenuous physical activity.
In the context of yoga, this can be particularly helpful immediately after an especially vigorous yoga routine—like Hot Yoga sessions—or after completing a yoga routine where you challenged yourself more than usual and would therefore benefit from soothing your aching muscles.
Both warming and cooling essential oils can be useful for recovery and rest between workouts, since they help soothe and relax. Whether you use warming essential oils for a relaxing massage or cooling oils to put your tired and aching muscles to ease in the change room, these oils can be an invaluable part of getting your body to rest and relax after all kinds of strenuous physical activities.
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