Live Whole Health #121: Yoga ball

There are many ways that you can incorporate mindful movement into your daily routine, and the yoga ball is one fun way to do it.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, there are many benefits of yoga.

Research suggests that yoga may:

• Help improve general wellness by relieving stress, supporting good health habits, and improving mental/emotional health, sleep and balance.
• Relieve low-back pain and neck pain, and possibly pain from tension-type headaches and knee osteoarthritis.
• Help people who are overweight or obese lose weight.
• Help people quit smoking.
• Help people manage anxiety or depressive symptoms associated with difficult life situations.
• Relieve menopause symptoms.
• Help people with chronic diseases to manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life.

Doing yoga on a ball can be a fun practice, and it also has some added benefits. The ball increases your core strength and flexibility, improves balance and can even add a bit more of a cardio boost to your routine as you work your whole body.

Grab an exercise ball and have some fun while increasing your flexibility and balance. Join Chuna Rai-Nelson of Central Arkansas VA Health Care System in this 10-minute yoga practice using an exercise ball.

For more information on how yoga can be incorporated into your routine to support your well-being, visit Yoga-508Final-9-4-2018.pdf (va.gov).