Read the passage below and decide which answer (from A, B, C or D) best fits each gap Health Benefits of Yoga Yoga is a healthy lifestyle. One of the benefits of yoga is that you can choose a yoga style that is suitable for your lifestyle, such as hot yoga, power yoga, relaxation yoga, etc. If you are a yoga beginner, Hatha Yoga, which focuses on basic postures at a comfortable pace, would be great for you. If you want to increase strength through using more of your own body’s resistance, ...

Read the passage below and decide which answer (from A, B, C or D) best fits each gap

Health Benefits of Yoga

Yoga is a healthy lifestyle. One of the benefits of yoga is that you can choose a yoga style that is suitable for your lifestyle, such as hot yoga, power yoga, relaxation yoga, etc. If you are a yoga beginner, Hatha Yoga, which focuses on basic postures at a comfortable pace, would be great for you. If you want to increase strength through using more of your own body’s resistance, Power Yoga may be right for you. Whether you prefer you're at home, in a private session, watching a DVD or at a studio or gym, there are a huge variety of optionsavailable to suit your goals and needs. Improved flexibility is one of the first and most obvious benefits of yoga. During your first class, you probably won’t be able to touch your toes. But if you stick with it, you’ll notice a gradual loosening, and eventually, seemingly impossible poses will become possible. Each of the yoga poses is built to reinforce the muscles around the spine, the very center of your body, which is the core from which everything else operates. When the core is working properly, posture is improved, thus alleviating back, shoulder, and neck pain. Strong muscles do more than look good. They also protect us from conditions like arthritis and back pain, and help prevent falls in elderly people. And when you build strength through yoga, you balance it with flexibility. If you just went to the gym and lifted weights, you might build strength at the expense of flexibility. Yoga gets your blood flowing. More specifically, the relaxation exercises you learn in yoga can help your circulation, especially in your hands and feet. Yoga also gets more oxygen to your cells, which function better as a result. Twisting poses are thought to wring out venous blood from internal organs and allow oxygenated blood to flow in once the twist is released. Many studies found that a consistent yoga practice improved depression and led to greater levels of happiness and better immune function.

Question: The word “alleviating” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ______.