What is Yoga?
Yoga is an ancient practice of self development, on or off the mat. It’s one of India’s great ancient philosophies, dating back over 5000 years ago. The word yoga, which is derived from the Sanskrit word yui, or “yoke”— means union, or “to bring together and direct one’s attention”. And yoga does just that, bringing together the body, mind, soul and spirit. Yoga is a way to find happiness on all levels of our being - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. Yoga is a way to achieve calmness and serenity….it teaches us self- control through harmonious living….
What’s the purpose of practicing yoga?
As physical and psychological discipline, yoga helps us solve our everyday problems, helps us become more of what we are, become a better version of ourselves…We may at first come to yoga because we want to get a good workout and sculpt beautiful bodies…but we stay because we discover that our whole life becomes yoga. Yes, yoga can become our lifestyle! Also yoga is a science and a technology that helps us learn from the inside out, from the place of honest awareness and self reflection. And now the popularity of yoga is growing globally as the scientists are coming up with significant evidence of the benefits of yoga. But, whether you use yoga for spiritual transformation or for stress management and physical well-being, the benefits are endless. Let’s mention just a few of them…consistent yoga practice:
1) Increases flexibility and strength of our bodies, and improves our posture.
2) Increases lubrication of the joints, ligaments and tendons.
3) Makes all our inner organs truly happy by massaging them.
4) Improves respiration
5) Detoxifies our bodies and helps us to feel and look younger than our biological age
6) Strengthens our immune system.
7) Improves the ability to control breath, which helps us to release tension and better manage stress.
8) Helps us relax and to improve sleep.
9) Great for rehabilitating injuries.
10) Increases levels of energy and vitality.
11) Balances metabolism, helps to develop and maintain healthy body weight.
12) Promotes cardio and circulatory health, providing healthier organs, skin and brain.
13) Helps to relieve pain ( some instances of chronic pain, such as back pain, are lessened or eliminated through yoga)
14) Increases core strength and improves balance.
15) Leads the way of spiritual growth and self discovery.
16) Helps to cope in our day-to-day lives by helping us to reduce anxiety, lift our moods, and reduce depression.
17) Encourages positive focus, builds our character. Balancing of hormones and nervous system brings more stable, positive approach to our life.
18) Promotes acceptance, kindness and patience toward ourselves and others.
19) Builds sense of awareness in our bodies, awareness of our feelings.
20) Is extremely effective for various health disorders prevention and healing, improves body chemistry which leads to better health.
21) Helps us learn to love ourselves unconditionally.
Even if you have just started practicing yoga, you may agree that the list of benefits continue eternally. (Have an inspiring story to share? Please click here and share it with us!) As we practice yoga on a regular basis, we learn to trust our own experiences, trust our abilities, have a sense of control in our lives, and we are able to create the lifestyle we desire. By taking good care of ourselves (and this is what we do in yoga) we are positively changing ourselves, we influence the atmosphere around us and are able to help others grow too! “By strengthening yourself, you serve all the humanity”. – Stuart Wilde.
The first step of our self development –we start with ourselves to return to a blissful state of oneness of body-mind-soul-spirit. Then we bring the blissful state of oneness to our families, expanding it to our friends, we grow more and become communities of people who choose to grow together...
And going bigger still, expanding and extending oneness into our World!