If you are in search of a healthier lifestyle, you should consider yoga. Yoga has been proven to be beneficial from its multifaceted health benefits. It is a holistic exercise that heals and strengthens your body through the repetition of poses and stretches. All that is needed to begin is a mat.

Yoga has been gaining popularity all over the world. More and more people are transforming their lives through this discipline. You can now find yoga studios and instructors anywhere in the world, so you don't even have to take a break from it while you travel.

Like the gym workout, yoga comes with its own set of risks. But you can reduce the financial liability of any injuries sustained during yoga with hazardous sports travel insurance.

Activity

Yoga was developed around 5,000 years ago in ancient India. Its founders designed it as an eight-branched path that uplifts the mind as well as strengthens the body. However, in modern times, the physical aspects like breath control (pranayama) and posture (asana) gained more popularity than the spiritual sides. Swami Vivekananda popularized it in the western world during the 1890's.

Like any workout regimen, the key to mastering yoga is consistency. You need to practice the postures every day. If you take a prolonged break, you have to go back to the basics once you resume. You might injure yourself if you try to pick up the practice where you left it, as the body slowly conditions itself to the strain of yoga postures.

Before you start, you should find a certified yoga instructor to guide you. There are 84 different yoga postures of varying difficulty, and you will definitely need professional guidance to select the ones that are suited to your proficiency level. Skipping ahead and trying an expert-level posture when you are not ready can cause potentially serious injuries.

Yoga balances your body's internal systems to give you an all-round benefit. It will make your body strong, and more flexible, as well as boost your immunity against diseases. But if done wrong, it can completely disrupt the body’s functions and cause massive damage. Do not pursue yoga without guidance. Secure yourself with an adventure sports travel insurance plan so that any injury can be promptly treated without affecting your finances.

Risks

The downside of yoga is that it can damage the whole body if you do it wrong. Sprains and twists in the limbs are common injuries. If unattended, these can develop into chronic pain and require sustained medical treatment. Notify the instructor if such an injury occurs.

More severe injuries can include slipped disks, ligament damage, and joint dislocations. These injuries usually occur when someone tries to pick up advanced yoga postures by themselves or through sites like YouTube. Do not try these without a certified instructor present to minimize the risks.

A recent study from Sydney University claims that yoga has about a 21% injury rate among its participants. You can reduce the risks by carefully selecting your instructor and by pacing yourself. But it’s best to secure your finances with extreme sports travel insurance just in case an accident occurs.

Travel Insurance

You would want to continue your yoga practice no matter where you travel. It is important to consider the fact that hospitals in most countries charge exorbitant rates for treating any hazardous sports-related injuries. To avoid your vacation being ruined by those pesky medical bills, secure yourself financially with hazardous sports travel insurance.

Most standard travel insurance plans exclude coverage for the inherent risks of adventure sports like yoga. So take a moment to buy a hazardous sports travel insurance plan before you hit the mat for your daily dose of yoga!

DISCLAIMER: The information within this article is intended as a broad summary of benefits and services and is meant for informational purposes only. The information does not describe all scenarios, coverages or exclusions of any insurance plan. The benefits and services of an insurance plan are subject to change. This is not your policy/certificate of insurance. If there is any discrepancy between the information in this article and the language of your policy/certificate wording, the language of the policy/certificate wording will prevail.