Yoga and it's benefits on you!

What Is Yoga?

Yoga is a vast collection of spiritual techniques and practices aimed at integrating mind, body, and spirit to achieve a state of enlightenment or oneness with the universe. 

What is normally thought of as “yoga” in the West is really Hatha Yoga, one of the many paths of yoga. The different paths of yoga emphasise different approaches and techniques but ultimately lead to the same goal of unification and enlightenment. 

Hatha Yoga attains the union of mind-body-spirit through a practice of:

• asanas (yoga postures), 
• pranayama (yoga breathing), 
• mudra (body gestures) and shatkarma (internal cleansing). 

These physical practices are used to purify the body and cultivate prana (life-force energy). Modern Hatha Yoga does not emphasize many of these esoteric practices and instead focuses more on the physical yoga postures.

Yoga is in no way exclusive—being able to practice yoga does not matter how old you are, how much you weigh, what you do for a living, where you live or what religion you practice. Yoga is accessible for just about everyone.

If you have a medical condition or a recent injury, it can be challenging or dangerous to do certain types of yoga, specific poses, or breathing techniques. Usually, there are alternatives or modifications that can allow you to practice safely, and many common complaints have specific yoga therapy remedies. If you are recovering from an injury or are of poor health, we recommended consulting with a physician or other qualified health care professional before beginning a yoga practice.

If you are out of shape or extremely inflexible, we recommend you begin with a gentle practice until you have built up the strength and flexibility for more challenging sequences. It is always best to error on the side of caution and safety and approach yoga slowly and carefully.

The best way to know if yoga is for you is to give it a try!

Benefits of Yoga on your health:

The benefits of yoga are almost endless! Practicing yoga helps build healthy virtues and good values, such as discipline, honesty, devotion, self-inquiry, mindfulness, and non-attachment. Yoga empowers you to make conscious choices toward living a more healthy and fulfilling life. 

Yoga also helps you:
• Improve and maintain the health of muscles, joints, and organs
• Improve flexibility, strength, stamina, mobility, range of motion, and balance
• Keep your mind healthy and strong
• Reduce stress and promote relaxation
• Get a better night’s sleep
• Boost your immune system
• Prevent conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and auto-immune disorders
• Help heal common aches like back pain
• Increase happiness and well being and reduce depression etc. 

Once you start doing yoga! Improve it!

Patience, commitment, repetition, and consistency are the keys to developing and progressing in the practice of yoga. 

After you’ve found a style, teacher, and yoga studio that works for you, try these tips:
• Commit to a regular schedule of yoga classes or home practice
• Increase the length of your yoga practice and the number of days per week that you practice
• Attend yoga workshops that focus on specific aspects of the yoga practice in more detail
• Journal the effects a consistent yoga practice has on your body, mind, and heart
• Read and study to learn more about yoga
• Find sources of inspiration
• Adopt a yogic lifestyle

Why don't you give it a try?