Interesting facts about yoga that may surprise you!

Here are some lesser known facts about this miraculous discipline that will restore your faith in its power.

1. Yoga can help you find your dominant nostril

That’s right. Just like we have a dominant hand, one of our nostrils is also better capable of breathing than the other. But before you start worrying about breathing through the wrong nostril throughout your life, you should know that the dominance of our nostrils changes every 2 and a half hours. So by observing your breathing through yoga, you can find out which of your nostril is more active at a particular moment and use it breathe more freely.

2. You don’t just perform asanas when you do yoga

While yogic postures that aim to improve our physical fitness, flexibility and beauty are an important part of yoga, they are not all that yoga is. There are 7 other important aspects of yoga that involve mental and spiritual awareness, called the Yama, Niyama, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.

3. Doing yoga actually changes your body on a molecular level

Research published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology has pointed out how yoga and other mind-body interventions decrease the production of certain molecules called kappa B and cytokine, that are responsible for triggering stress, inflammation and cancer in our body.

4. There are more than 84 yogic asanas you can perform

If you thought that you know yoga if you can do a padmasana, bhujangasana, dhanurasana and ustrasana, then you are 80 leagues behind. Yoga is vast and there are also many ways to perform each asana.

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5. Some yoga teachers are more than 80 years old

While you may find numerous oldie yogis in India that have even crossed the 90-year mark with their minimal eating habits and regular yoga, the Guinness book of world records lists 85-year-old Bette Calman from Australia as the world’s oldest yoga teacher.

6. Slow and deep breathing in Yoga can actually help you live longer

One of the schools of thought of ancient Yoga says that every mortal has a limited number of breaths to live his life. The slower we use them, the longer we live. While this may not have been proved, you can contrast the quick breathing of a dog and the slow breathing of whales with their life spans to see that it may actually be true.

7. There is a yoga with dogs

‘Doga’ is practised in some parts of the world, where people use dogs as props to perform yoga. Started by Suzi Teitelman in New York in the year 2002, with this practice you can create a more loving and healthy relationship with your dog.