Although yoga was primarily developed as a religious and mental discipline, there is no denying that the health benefits of yoga can be huge. It is for this reason that yoga became such a huge force in Western fitness and is now offered in thousands of gyms across the hemisphere.

The most obvious health benefit of yoga is flexibility. Over time, anyone practising yoga will see a huge increase in the flexibility of muscles and joints such as the back, hamstrings, shoulders and hips. A greater level of flexibility is hugely beneficial for anyone suffering from chronic pain, particularly back pain caused by sitting for long hours in a car or at a computer. As Yoga strengthens muscles and encourages development, many practitioners find general pain greatly reduced.

Yoga also requires a core level of strength, which can be developed and added to over time. Many Yoga poses require supporting your body weight on just one limb, while the slow movements of yoga help to build up strength. This, too, can help with chronic pain, as well as helping correct any problems in your alignment, another cause of general chronic pain.

Yoga also uses many breathing exercises, known as Pranayama. This encourages better breathing in general, which over time will continue outside of a Yoga class. Most people breathe very shallowly and will find focusing and controlling their breathing does indeed improve health, in particular clearing nasal passages and calming the central nervous system.

As well as this, Yoga can be used specifically to help alleviate the symptoms and problems caused by Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. A study was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998, which revealed that sufferers of Carpal Tunnel who participated in Yoga for eight weeks saw a greater improvement than those who did not. The poses found most effective were those that involved stretching, opening and strengthening the joints of the upper body.

With further benefits including stress reduces and general physical fitness, Yoga can play a dominant role in all-round physical well-being.