Benefits of Yoga

What is Yoga?

Yoga is a 6,000 year old scientific technique for spiritual development. Yoga is a Sanskrit word meaning "union", thus its goal is the unification of body, mind, and spirit. Because the science of yoga is so old it has developed many paths toward obtaining the goal of union. This state of union is called samadhi or enlightenment, where we experience the unity of not just our mind-body-spirit, but experience the whole universe as one interconnected whole. Yoga is not a religion, but a scientific methodology of the experience and integration of the mind, body, and spirit. Yoga is a toolbox for spiritual, mental, and physical health and well being.

The Benefits of Yoga

Yoga exercises ease tense muscles, tone up the internal organs, and improve the flexibility of the body's joints and ligaments. Yoga will release endorphins in the brain just as any other exercise program will, and produce a feeling of well being. Yoga postures, while exercising muscles and joints, also stretch, extend, and flex the spine, keeping the body strong and supple.

Improvement of suppleness and strength is only one of the benefits of yoga. When combined with breathing techniques, Yoga stimulates blood circulation throughout the body. Yoga can be practiced by anyone of any age. All practitioners can achieve a more limber body, increased physical coordination, better posture, and improved flexibility without incurring the potentially negative effects associated with high-impact exercises.

Yoga postures release stiffness and tension, help to renew energy, restore health, and promote graceful aging. Some Yoga postures sustain bone mass (very important for women). Relaxation and breathing exercises reduce stress and put you in touch with your inner strength.

Yoga is increasingly embraced by the medical community. Health professionals have long encouraged patients to practice yoga. Yoga is an integral part of many stress management programs endorsed and paid for by HMOs and other medical insurance companies. At Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiac Center, yoga postures and breathing techniques are recommended to patients with heart disease.

Do you want to find out more about Yoga? Check out these web sites.

http://www.thepath-tulsa.com/yoga.html
http://www.yogabasics.com/
http://www.yrec.org/yogatimetable.html
http://dailyreadings.com/ys1-1.htm
http://www.yogafinder.com/