How does yoga affect the body? Klavdia practiced every day for 5 years and here are the effects
Klavdiya Finogina can pull up, eats healthy, natural products and meditates every day – although she did not plan to lead such a healthy lifestyle. It all started with 20-minute yoga classes in 2020.
Like many young finogina women-a 25-year-old photographer from Toronto-she felt pressure to practice for a specific appearance and limited the diet in the hope that she would look slim and “sculpted”. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, she went to the gym once or twice a week, where she used machines, shoulders and stomach-but it didn't enjoy it.
– It was very passive, mainly of duty. No passion – she said in an interview with Business Insider.
However, when locking came, she began to practice at home, mainly making 20-minute videos focused on abdominal muscles. One day she came across a yoga channel and chose one of the films – something surprised.
– It seemed demanding enough, and at the same time fun, because it was not just about repeating movements – he says. – There was liquidity in this, there were elements of balance, coordination, flexibility – things that were missing in my previous trainings.
She began to have fun and wanted to become better in yoga. Inspired by a video on YouTube about building habits, she committed up to 50 days of daily yoga exercises at home. She felt greater coordination and mood improvement. – I became addicted to this lifestyle – everyday movement – which was not the norm for me before.
Finogina can now perform advanced yoga positions, such as standing on the hands and pulling up
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Mollie Pie (private archive)
Five years later, she was a daily routine, which, she says, changed her body and helped her change her attitude towards her own image, exercise and diet.
Her experience is confirmed by what personal trainers recommend: choose physical activity that you really enjoy if you want to persevere in exercises.
Sohee Lee, a personal trainer, said Business Insider earlier that “It is important to enjoy exercise,” because it is difficult to maintain regularity if training is a punishment for us.
See also: “Profit above man”. The psychologist criticizes the corporations for “Well Washing”
Yoga and muscle building
Although she did not intend to, Finogina built strength and muscles thanks to yoga. – I definitely look stronger. I have much more outlined muscles – says.
But progress measures what positions he can make, not what it looks like.
Muscle mass is important for metabolic health and maintenance and fitness. After the age of 30, we naturally begin to lose it, but strength training can help us stay healthy longer. More intense yoga styles, such as Vinyasa or Ashtanga, can be treated as a form of strength training.
Over time, Finogina chose more and more advanced trainings with inverted positions, i.e. those in which the heart is above the head – as it stands on the arms, head or the position of a raven. They require good balance and coordination. “I couldn't do them yet, but it was an interesting challenge,” he says.
Yoga changed the relationship of Finogina with her body
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Mollie Pie (private archive)
Thanks to multiple repetitions, she became strong enough to keep these positions and felt motivation to add a calisthenics and exercises with the mass of her own body, like pumps.
“I recently made my first pull -up,” he says. – I never thought I could do it before.
Intuitive food helped her choose full -fledged products
Daily movement made Finogina listened better to the needs of her body – she noticed if she feels full of energy after a meal and lightly or hard and sluggish.
He describes his earlier relationship with food as unhealthy – she felt remorse if she ate “too much” or something that “should not”.
Now they are intuitively and naturally reaching for full -fledged products and larger portions. – When I practice a lot, I eat a lot – and allow myself to do it – says.
I feel best after products such as full grains, beans and nuts. These are key elements of the Mediterranean diet, which has been considered the healthiest diet for eight years in a row.
Exercises for pleasure, not for appearance
In the past, Finogina practiced only for aesthetic reasons.
Today she loves physical activity because she gives her the opportunity to contact her own body and free movement. – It's a bit like a dog – just let him run, let him play – he says.
This approach helped her abandon the ideal of beauty, which she once sought, and appreciate her body as she is.
“Thanks to yoga I really met my body,” he says. “And I gave him a chance to be himself and express himself in his own way.”
The above text is a translation with American Business Insider edition
