Yoga

A little yoga can go a long way. Yoga makes a difference to how we feel mentally and physically. Yoga is a system of poses, movements and specific breathing techniques that benefit the whole body so that your posture, strength, balance, flexibility and even self-confidence improve. Yoga offers a wide range of approaches and can be adapted to suit the individual’s needs.

Yoga practitioners often discover, to their delight, that what they do on their yoga mat spills over into the rest of their week. Yoga increases our mental focus and concentration, our self-esteem, sense of well-being and inner calm. These often unforeseen improvements in mood and attitude can lead to better relationships with work colleagues, friends and family…as well as with oneself. We also find that we are better able to cope with life’s many challenges.

Many of us live with far more physical and mental tension than we are perhaps even aware of. The practice of yoga brings us not only to a greater awareness of our bodies, but also provides many simple ways to help relieve the effects of stress on the body and mind. Of course if you can practice on a regular basis for a sustained period of time, you will benefit greatly. However, it would be a mistake to think that yoga can only bring results to the dedicated practitioner. Students are often astounded by how much better they feel after just one or two classes a week. The secret for many busy students is to bring yoga into their daily lives; it can be very beneficial to take a few minutes in the midst of daily activities to stretch, hold a yoga pose, and to breathe consciously.

As yoga has become more popular in the West, medical researchers have begun studying the benefits of therapeutic yoga. It’s used as an adjunct treatment for specific medical conditions, from clinical depression to heart disease. Yoga benefits other chronic medical conditions, relieving symptoms of asthma, back pain, arthritis, insomnia, and multiple sclerosis.

Yoga is the relationship that is built between the body, the mind and the breath.

Yoga is freedom and release.

Yoga practice can:

• Improve your physical strength, posture, flexibility and balance

• Improve your endurance and vitality

• Ease stiffness & relieve pain and tension

• Increase mobility and specific range of motion in joints

• Increase lung capacity

• Lowers blood sugar

• Regulates the adrenal glands

• Lower blood pressure and slow the heart rate

• Increase your mental focus and concentration

• Enhance your mood: less stressed and more relaxed

• Improve your self-esteem, sense of well-being and inner calm

• Develop increased body awareness

• Makes you happier

• It slows down the mental loops of frustration, regret, anger, fear, and desire that can cause stress.