Why You Should Practice Outdoor Yoga
Spending time outdoors is more important now than it ever has been before. Stepping into nature for fresh air, exercise, and time away from our homes can vastly improve our mental health. To celebrate National Yoga Month, we’re sharing all the reasons we think you should go beyond hikes and socially distanced picnics and add ‘om-ing’ outside to your repertoire. Get ready to show off that downward-facing dog!
1. You Can Connect with the Environment (Literally)
At KGBF, we’re super passionate about making Georgia a cleaner, greener, more beautiful place to live. What better way to invest yourself than heading to your local park and feeling the grass under your feet? As you do sun salutations right under the sky, or twist your body into tree pose beneath your favorite oak, you’ll not only feel more inspired, you’ll want to come back and plant a garden, or participate in a local cleanup. By physically engaging with nature, you’ll more deeply appreciate its beauty and find yourself wanting to do your part to keep it that way.
2. You’ll Learn to Be Present
Raise your hand if, at times during this pandemic, you want to take everything you own with a screen and lock it all in a closet. We get it, we’ve been there too. We’re still there! We just have one word of advice: breathe. Taking nice, deep inhales and exhales, with nothing to look at but our state’s natural beauty, will give you the most wonderful sense of calm. You’ll also deepen your practice by being in an outdoor space. Fly buzzing around your ear? Someone loudly passing by on the path behind you? There’s no better way to strengthen your focus.
3. You’ll Improve Your Health
Did you know spending time outside reduces your stress hormone levels? According to a recent study, spending just 20 or 30 minutes in a nature setting, whether that’s your yard, a park, or a green space near your office, can lower your concentration of cortisol. We’d bet that adding a nice triangle pose or meditation session into the mix would only increase the benefits! Grab a mat or towel and head into that fresh air.
4. You Will Deepen Your Sense of Community
Whether you join an outdoor class, head off to the park with your family, or decide to practice solo, we guarantee you’ll feel more connected to your neighborhood. That’s all the more valuable now that we can’t partake in our usual modes of interaction, right? It’s all about belonging to something bigger than yourself. Nothing could be more beautiful.