CAN YOGA MAKE YOU MORE BEAUTIFUL? Here’s What 18 Years Of Practice Taught Me

Yoga is a mind-body practise that can be traced back over 5,000 years to the Indus Valley.  The term yoga is a Sanskrit one which translates roughly to unite, and what is united are the body, mind, and spirit.  The practitioners of yoga are referred to as yogi (for men) and yogini (for women).

In Hinduism, the first practitioner of yoga was Lord Shiva, who is known as the Adiyogi.  From this origin, yoga developed into a philosophy and its practises were codified by an ancient sage named Patanjali.  The ancient origins of yoga and its ability to help people around the world to deal with stress from modern technology, speaks volumes as to yoga’s wisdom and insight. I think that yoga is India’s greatest contribution to the world.

I have been a yogini since 2008, and on this International Day of Yoga, I will share how yoga helped me to achieve beauty, and how I deal with the beauty challenges posed by a regular hot practise.

I used to be member of a gym which offered yoga on Sundays.  Initially, I ignored the class because I thought that the best way to deal with stress and to become fit was to lift weights and do aerobics classes.  I recalled following the routine but never feeling fully relaxed afterwards.

My inability to just be calm worsened and my family suggested that I try yoga.  I tried a Sunday class, and I was immediately impressed by the physical challenge.  I also admired the teacher’s fit physique, because she was strong and slim, and she encouraged me to go to her studio.

I signed up for the introductory week and attended daily.  I tried slow, fast and mixed classes, and loved it.  At the end of each class, I was too tired to engage in restless thinking, and since I wanted the slim yoga body, I signed up to the studio and never again attended a gym.  In 2026, I still practise hot yoga approximately 5 times a week.

Looking back, I know that I am better person for practising yoga and over the years my desire has evolved from merely wanting a slim body to a balanced one that is optimised and harmonised with my mind and spirit.  Below are my lessons.

Benefit 1 – Better Snacking Habits

The first benefit of yoga was that I reduced my consumption of chips and heavy foods.  I used to practise moksha yoga (now modo yoga), which is performed in a hot room, and quickly learned that the asanas are more laboured when you have a heavy stomach. The practise never drove me to diet, instead, as I pushed my body millimetre by millimetre into more complex asansas (poses), I understood intuitively that it made more sense to snack on homemade apple sauce rather than chips. The power of this truth became evident when I had a heavy stomach, and I needed to sit on my bum and then lift my leg over my shoulder to do the elephant pose.  I distinctly recall thinking that I need to eat lighter snacks because between the heat and my limbs entering pretzel-like positions, the pressure on my stomach was too much.

Benefit 2 – Skin became Clearer

I have always preferred a hot practise because I like how my body becomes looser in the heat, and I am able to gently push myself into poses.  The downside is that I sweat a lot, and I learned early in my practise to thoroughly remove all my make-up prior to class, and there is no room for a cute pinch of colour. I confirm that melted mascara migrates quickly into the eyes within minutes of a hot yoga class. As a result, I improved my skin care habits by ensuring that my skin was clean prior to practise, and over time, that resulted in less pimples and scars.

Benefit 3 – Posture is Strong

The impact of a regular yoga on the body takes years to fully manifest itself but I confirm that several years into my practise, I noticed that my lower back aches disappeared.  I am proud to note that when I walk, that I do not hunch and that I am using all 170 cm of my height to project confidence and strength. Throughout the day when I sit, I always shift my hips to ensure that my neck and shoulders are properly placed.  At the end of a day, I am slightly stiff but when I get up, I stand up straight, and there is no back pain, and within moments of walking the stiffness dissipates.  Yoga taught me the importance of balance, and that it is not static, you need to make little shifts to ensure that you achieve balance, and these two lessons also apply to sitting in front of a computer for work.

Benefit 4- Toned Frame

I used to run, and I loved the look of my toned legs and relished the runner’s high. After a few years I started to experience sharp pain in my left knee. I realised that if I continued to run, that the pain would worsen and I would end up needing physiotherapy and the knee could disintegrate due to arthritis.  The mere idea of such a fate made me stop running, because I was born with original working parts and I want to die with them.

In yoga, I noticed that every practise, no matter its intensity, I worked the body from head to toe.  There is no leg day or arm day, instead asanas are broken down into its constituent components, and each body part is engaged.  For example, in bridge pose, my lower legs lift my lower body, my thighs and glutes are at full power as they maintain the lift to resist gravity and my shoulders and neck provide support.  The same theme of total body immersion drives each sequence of asanas, and in that work, I let go of my day and focus on achieving a strong, balanced asana.  After each class there is always a sense of an overall well-earned tiredness and most importantly, my body is proportionate.  Since no body section is neglected, all the muscle groups are engaged several times a week, so the tone in my triceps matches the tone in my calves.  Consequently, I never feel any excess strain, and I am strong enough to carry my own groceries, I can touch my toes at any time of the day and I move with balance.

Beauty Challenges and Easy Tweaks

The beauty challenges of yoga are minor compared to what I have gained over 18 years of practise and are easily overcome with a few well-chosen products:

1. As mentioned above, any trace of make-up on the skin will be the cause of distraction in the practise because the make-up will migrate as you sweat. A great cleanser is essential to prepare the face and neck for practise, and I wholeheartedly recommend the Estée Lauder Advanced Night Cleansing Balm Cleanser with Lipid-Rich Oil Infusion for two reasons:
   a. The packaging is strong and visible. The circular, smooth jar is made of a sturdy plastic so you can keep it in your bag, and it withstands a few bangs. The shiny gold cap stands out in a gym bag, so it is easy to spot if your bag is stuffed.  The shape is easy to grab and pull our if the bag.  These elements make the product convenient.
   b. The balm quickly becomes emollient when you rub a dollop between the palms of the hands. I love massaging it into my face because it does not slide around, it stays put and when I add water, my makeup disintegrates.  It is fascinating how the water transforms into the colours of my makeup, and within moments my skin is clean.  My face and neck feel soft afterwards, and this due to the presence of safflower seed oil.

2. Heavy breathing is integral to the practise and sometimes I even practise the lion’s breath where I engage is a series of sharp breaths. This type of breathing dries out my lips, so before and after yoga, I apply the Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm, because:

a. The application tip’s concave design hugs my upper and lips perfectly, so none of the balm ends up in the lip contour, so there is no product waste; and

b. The balm does not migrate when I sweat instead it sinks into my lips. I find that during the practise my lips feel softer  and when I breathe heavily, they are in great, softened shape.

3. After my practise, my face is sweaty, and I do not want to drive home with my pores filled with salt and waste. I am not in the mood to engage in a full-face wash routine, so I apply a few droplets of the Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow PHA + BHA Pore-Tight Toner on a cotton pad and I quickly wipe my face.  The grime on the cotton pad confirms that my face has been cleaned up, and on days when my skin feels a tad dry, I just splash my face with water and head out.

4. I have long hair, so I need to brush my hair after the practise. I love the Kent Jemima Puddle-Duck™ Hairbrush (which also bears the King’warrant) because in addition to being adorned with the image of the beloved Jemima Puddle-duck from the stories of Peter Rabbit, its small size ensures that it can fit into any handbag, so it is easy and fun to tote about. The rounded quills sit atop and air cushioning, so when you brush your hair, you are massaging the scalp. The length of each quill passes through my thick, wavy hair easily and if it encounters a knot, I just nudge it slowly until the knot releases.  My hair looks orderly after a few strokes.

5. My full body sweat means that the skin on my body is quite dry, and on days when my legs are quite itchy, I need a gentle lotion to calm and hydrate my skin. Aestura³⁶⁵ Body Lotion is lightweight, so when I massage it into my skin it absorbs quickly, and my skin feels light and smooth all day.  The product builds up the skin barrier, and I find that after several weeks of use that my legs no longer become itchy.

6. My hair is normal to dry, and on day 2 after I wash my hair it slowly starts to turn into hay and it is huge after a hot yoga practise. I refuse to wash my hair more than twice a week, because I will further dry my hair, but I need to add moisture. Several months ago, I started to apply 1 teaspoon of the Kérastase Nutritive 8H Magic Night Serum to my hair (always avoiding the roots), a few nights a week.  I then brush my hair thoroughly to ensure that the serum is evenly distributed.  After a few weeks, I noticed that my hair was overall softer and even after yoga practise when I brushed my hair, it lay flatter and looked shiny.

Balance is Key

When I began my journey as a yogini in 2008, I never thought that I would share my beauty experiences that resulted from the practise.  I think the greatest lesson, beauty or otherwise, that I have learned from yoga is the importance of balance, and I seek it in all areas of my life.  I now define success as balance.  If there is an imbalance, I tweak it with little steps and bear in my mind when I strive for balance… I am balanced.

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