Yoga

The benefits of yoga exercise

Developed over millennia in India as a series of meditative practices, Yoga is now a popular form of exercise and relaxation among twenty-first-century Westerners.

Yoga practitioners build their balance, strength and flexibility through slow-motion postures and poses. Yoga exercises are taught in gyms and fitness centers, as well as yoga centers.

The Philosophy of Yoga

A yoga workout often includes much more than exercises, however. Instruction on breathing, call and response chanting, meditation and inspirational reading by the teacher can be parts of the regimen. The yoga discipline is a path toward not just fitness, but enlightenment.

The Yoga Sutra, written at some point between 200 B.C.E. and 200 C.E. by the Hindu sage Patanjali, is considered the core text of yoga. Patanjali lays out in 195 sutras, or aphorisms, guidelines to enlightenment by means of an Eightfold Path: Yama, or social behavior, how you treat others and the world around you; Niyama , or inner discipline and responsibility; Asana, the practice of poses and postures, executed to prepare the body for meditation; Pranayama, or the control of breath— and by extension, control of prana, the life force that flows through each of us through breath; Pratyahara, or the withdrawal of the senses (which occurs during meditation, breathing exercises, or the practice of yoga postures); Dharana , or concentration of the mind to focus on one point or image; Dhyana, or uninterrupted meditation without an object; and Samadhi, or absolute bliss, the ultimate goal of the eightfold path to yoga.

Yoga for Health

The benefits of yoga are many. Yoga exercise builds the body's strength and flexibility, tones the muscles, and relieves certain types of chronic pain. In addition, through the breathing exercises, yoga practitioners calm their nervous systems, which improves their health in many respects overall.

Yoga techniques strengthen the mind, as well. The intense concentration on breathing, your body's movements, and your activity in the present movement (focus intently on the present in which one is practicing yoga, and stress over things past and future will subside) helps calm the mind and master effective techniques of stress management. Moreover, the enhanced awareness of the body's movements can improve posture, self-confidence and overall comfort with one's body.