Yoga can help give you a healthier lifestyle – Jo Goff explains

At The Mayfair GP, we believe in the positive effects of Lifestyle Medicine – looking after your body in a holistic way to help promote a healthy lifestyle and prevent the onset of disease.

Alongside a healthy, balanced diet, exercise is hugely important not just to help our physical health, but also to promote mental and emotional wellbeing. Walking, running and sports like tennis are all great ways to increase your heart rate and get the endorphins flowing.

For a more gentle activity that also has many health benefits, yoga can be enjoyed by young and old, on its own, or as an adjunct to other activities.

Health benefits of yoga

Yoga presents the perfect full body, mind and spirit workout, allowing you to focus on your breathing and practise mindfulness whilst also stretching the muscles of the body, promoting suppleness and strength.

Among the many health benefits of yoga, studies have shown it could help to:

• Reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, by increasing the body’s production of adiponectin, an anti-inflammatory and reducing cholesterol
• Improve your quality of life, by reducing depression, anxiety and stress and promoting calm
• Reduce chronic pain
• Promote good sleep – all exercise will help you sleep, but yoga is particularly good at soothing both body and mind
• Help improve breathing control

Yoga for a healthier lifestyle

At The Mayfair GP we like to offer our patients a chance to improve their overall health, and we work closely with local yoga provider, Jo Goff, to do that. Jo is a qualified Vinyasa Flow yoga teacher and teaches all ages and abilities.

Jo says:

I was working in the world of fashion PR and living an intense and unsustainable lifestyle when I found yoga. Through persistence of going to regular classes, I began to learn the tools of how to look internally and slow my life down. I was able to see the amazing value and benefits that yoga offered.

Yoga is a lifestyle choice and comprises meditation, pranayama (breathe control), nutrition, and asanas (postures) which lead us on a path of conscious living. A regular yoga practice inspires a person to become more aware of their choices. It helps them lead a more fulfilling life and encourages them to become more content with what they have.

“Yoga practice really helped in my recovery..”

Jo continues:

Yoga has been fundamental in keeping me grounded through the good and slightly tougher times in life. I have had various major physical surgical procedures, and found my years of yoga practice really helped in my recovery. Especially having learnt how to work with the breath, and my body was in a strong and healthy place which helped with the healing. I have also learnt how to modify my yoga practice through fertility treatment, pregnancy. Over the years I have taught some amazing clients from beginners through to those more experienced of all ages.

Once you begin yoga, you will gain an understanding of your own physical and mental awareness. You can then deepen your practice, initially with the guidance of a teacher. You can then work on your own once you have learnt the skills.

I look forward to seeing you soon on the mat!

Find out more about Jo Goff’s one-to-one yoga classes and group sessions in north London by visiting www.jogoffyoga.com.

If you would like to find out more about Lifestyle Medicine and how we can help you to lead a healthier lifestyle, please contact us at The Mayfair GP by emailing: info@themayfairgp.com .