Hidden Benefits of Yoga
When you think about yoga’s benefits, you probably picture flexibility, stress relief, or maybe even spiritual connection. But there’s another advantage hiding in plain sight - one that’s become more valuable than ever in our chair-centred world.
The Floor Transfer Revolution
Every time you lower yourself onto your mat and rise back up again, you’re performing what movement specialists call a floor transfer. It looks simple, but it demands a lot: ankle mobility, hip flexibility, core strength, balance, and body awareness all working together.
For most of human history, floor transfers were as natural as breathing. You would have sat on the ground for meals, squatted to work, slept on low surfaces, and risen dozens of times a day. But chairs, couches, and car seats changed everything - and most of us quietly lost this basic human capacity.
That’s why, for many people today, the very first step is simply sitting on the floor again. It may not be easy, but it reopens access to a whole chain of mobility skills.
From Mobility to Strength and Balance
Mobility is what allows your joints to move freely through their ranges. Once you start moving on and off the floor, you begin to build mobility in your hips, knees, ankles, and spine.
That mobility then supports strength: the ability of your muscles to hold and control those positions. And strength in turn lays the foundation for balance - the skill that lets you transition smoothly between movements without losing stability.
The Takeaway
Sitting on the floor is more than just a yoga custom - it’s the doorway back into mobility, strength, and eventually balance. In a world that’s trained us out of these skills, yoga brings them back, one practice at a time.
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