Sunday the 26th of February 2012 marks the World Yoga Day. Celebrating this day is a way to bring the highly personal practice into a more global sphere. This year Hundreds, maybe thousands, will bend, twist, breathe and flow for two hours (11-12 in their local time zone) to support Reporters Without Borders, an international organization that stands for freedom of press. The organizers feel that, “Devoting our thoughts and energy globally to the human rights issue will generate a powerful impact”

Yoga is good for our strength, balance and flexibility – and some studies show it helps improve the condition of our cardiovascular and respiratory systems. According to Harvard Medical Center's review of controlled studies on the impact of yoga on stress, anxiety and depression found that a treatment intervention that includes the practice significantly elevates the mood and social functioning of depressed and 'emotionally distressed' people -- including patients who have been hospitalized for major depression, bipolar disorder and even schizophrenia.

One example of how yoga's stress reduction can affect other areas of mental and physical health is in the case of insomnia. A 2004 clinical trial of 20 patients with chronic insomnia undertook a daily yoga practice and reported improved sleep by five measures, including total sleep time, sleep onset delays and sleep efficiency. That may be because yoga helps to calm 'cognitive arousal,' which can be associated with disordered sleep, theorized the study's author, Sat Bir Khalsa, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who has practiced yoga for 35 years.

In a completely different arena, researchers found that people who suffer from eating disorders may be helped by yoga, in conjunction with typical therapy, in part because it helps redirect compulsive behavior.

Yoga is also associated with improved focus for ADHD patients and as a method of treatment for PTSD and other forms of trauma.

So as you contribute your practice to the greater global good this World Yoga Day, it's important to note just how much you're also doing for yourself. 

Source: Huffington Post