Yoga – Core Merino

International Day of Yoga 2022

On the 21st of June 2022, the world is celebrating the International Day of Yoga. We thought this is a good occasion to take a moment and learn about the many benefits of practising Yoga. A big shout-out to Healthline.com for putting together a great list of Yoga benefits. There is still a lot of research needed to make scientific claims, but we selected a list of benefits that we can definitely subscribe to from our own yoga experience.

Improving flexibility

One of the many reasons, people get motivated to practice yoga is to increase flexibility. While babies have no issue putting their foot in their mouth, the older we get, the less flexible we become. Maintaining flexible muscles and tendons is however important for being able to move. Many Yoga poses help with stretching our body and ensuring we stay flexible.

Increase in strength

There are of course many forms of Yoga, of which some will also help build up your body strength. Building up strength through yoga depends on a few elements such as the yoga pose, the level of intensity, your teacher, and their approach. There is already some research available that has shown that yoga can improve strength. In our opinion, anyone who practices the Four-Limbed Staff Pose knows the strength it takes to stay in that position and continue breathing 😉

Better posture and body awareness

Sitting is the new smoking, meaning in today’s world we sit far too much in front of our computers, our phones, TVs, and cars. Practising yoga can help reverse the effects on our poor hunched backs and help us improve our posture and be more aware of how we carry ourselves.

Stress relief

Life gets busy and many of us tend to feel stressed from time to time. Any form of exercise can help with relieving some of this tension. Interestingly, when asked why people practice yoga, a large majority of them mention stress relief as a reason. Research has also shown the effect of yoga on stress. This is the case for active yoga exercises as well as more meditative practices.

Improving sleep

Like with any type of exercise, yoga also helps to improve our ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. This is due to the after-effects of exercising and the mental calming and stress relief achieved through practising yoga. So, if you have trouble sleeping, try to lie down on your yoga mat and get active.

There are of course many more benefits of practising yoga, what is your reason to practice yoga on a regular basis? Do let us know in the comments below, we always love to hear from you.

International days such as the International Day of Yoga are a good reminder to regularly exercise and motivate us to stay healthy and fit. At least, we now have itchy feet to get onto that yoga mat after finishing these paragraphs.

Finally, it does not matter what you wear when practising yoga, as long as you do it and feel comfortable bending and stretching in it. But, if you do want to give yourself a treat, have a look at our yoga collection. https://coremerino.com/merino-wear/women/yoga/

7 benefits of wearing merino wool during your next yoga practice

Every yoga beginner notices quickly the importance of wearing the right clothes during yoga practice. In order to fully concentrate on your body and mind, you need to ensure that your clothes make you feel comfortable. More so, your clothes should become one with your body and not distract you in any way. This means that your clothes need to help you maintain the right body temperature and lets you move freely. Last but not least, no seam should feel too tight, nothing should push up or down your leg or upper body, and no strap should fall off your shoulder.

Two things to consider: Style and material

To find the most suitable garments for your yoga practice, you need to consider two elements: style of the garment and material.

You will notice quickly certain commonalities in yoga wear which is a combination of loose fit while also staying put. A yoga top for example should be loose enough for movement and comfort but yet not fall over your head when you arrive into a downward dog pose.

The other element to consider is material, which means having a closer look at what the garment’s fabric is made of. You will find a large variety from natural fibres such as cotton or linen as well as synthetic fibres such as polyester or nylon. Each fibre has different benefits as well as disadvantages to consider for yourself. Cotton for example is cool and soft on your skin, however, when you do hot yoga, it will get too wet, heavy and eventually leave you cold at the end of your practice. Synthetic fibres might have better moisture-wicking properties but can start to smell and shed microplastics. However, there might be one fibre that has not yet been on your mind when it comes to yoga wear which may tick all the right boxes for you. You guessed it! Merino wool.

Merino Wool Yoga Wear Benefits

At Core Merino, we introduced our Yoga Collection two years ago and since then the collection has found more and more fans. The reason for the success is that merino wool has several benefits to offer for Yoga practice. Have a look:

Elastic

Merino wool has a natural elasticity which ensures that yoga garments made out of merino wool stretch with you, yet return to their original shape afterward. This ensures free body movement without any limits due to your clothes. It also means your clothes still look great after your stretching.

Grip

The grip of a fabric is something we seldomly think about, however for some yoga poses such as the Crow and Tree pose, the grip is essential to the success of holding and completing the pose. If the fabric is too sleek and slippery, your feet or knees will slide off your clothes and make it harder to stay in a certain pose. Merino wool has a wonderful soft touch with the right amount of grip to ensure slip-free poses.

Breathable

One important function of the clothes we wear during yoga is breathability. Wool has a natural ability to breathe by being able to absorb large quantities of moisture vapour and then move it away to evaporate into the air. This keeps your skin dry and ensures excess heat is released away from your body. Good breathability of your yoga wear contributes to you staying comfortable and able to focus only on your body and mind.

Temperature regulating

When you practice yoga, you also need to manage the temperature of your body well, meaning, you don’t want to get too hot and sweaty (with the exception of hot yoga) and also don’t want to get too cold, especially during your yoga meditation for example. Merino wool helps you regulate your body temperature without getting too hot or too cold. This property comes down to merino wool’s natural crimp. The crimp offers many tiny pockets of air within each wool fibre. These pockets of air make wool a great insulator for cold weather, keeping you comfortably warm.

The insulation and breathability properties of wool have an additional benefit. When you stop exercising chances are high that you soon will start to feel a post-exercise chill, especially when exercising in cold conditions during winter. Wool, however, releases the absorbed heat and moisture only slowly which ensures that we maintain higher skin temperature and less rapid cooling which avoids the post-exercise chill.

Odour resistance

With a few exceptions, yoga practice is a low sweat form of exercise. However, over time, also yoga wear will start to smell. As you may know, it is not our sweat that stinks, it is the bacteria that begin to grow overtime on our skin and on the fabric. Wool garments, however, don’t start to smell, even if you wear your wool yoga gear for several sessions. Wool can absorb and lock away odours where the bacteria cannot build up while we are wearing our wool garment. These odours are then only released when we wash or freshen up our garment in fresh air.

Natural, regenerative and biodegradable

One important element of yoga are the Yamas, the right living or ethical rules within Yoga, such as Ahimsa – nonviolence and Astheya – not stealing. This also reflects on how we treat our planet by not doing any harm to it and not stealing from it. Merino wool is in harmony with not doing any harm to the planet. Grown year-round by merino sheep, wool is 100% natural. Sheep grow wool by consuming a simple blend of water, air, sunshine and grass. In South Africa, for example, the sheep and wool industry have implemented a very high set of animal welfare standards, which ensure a happy life for the sheep and doing sheep no harm. Being a natural fibre, merino wool sheds no microplastic fibres but instead readily biodegrades once a yoga garment is no longer needed.

UV Protection

One more aspect that is important if you like to practice yoga outdoors is protection from the sun. Compared to other textile fibres, wool absorbs UV-A and UV-B radiation and therefore protects our skin from the sun. Research shows that wool fabrics have a UPF factor of over 40. We would still recommend protecting your skin with an additional sunscreen, but you can rest assured that your wool garments will protect your skin as well when you enjoy your piece of mind in the beautiful sunshine.

Try merino wool to help you find your inner calm

These are the seven of many more reasons why we recommend and love wearing merino wool for yoga practice. Yoga is all about practicing to focus on your body and mind. The fewer distractions the easier we find our inner calm. Merino wool yoga wear will definitely let you move freely and take care of your body, so you only need to focus on your practice. Best is to try it for yourself. We offer a special yoga wear bundle at a 20% discount, if you are curious.

5 Benefits of Practising Yoga