About Yoga ~ Is Yoga for Me?

About Yoga

Yoga is a practice of self development. It is a method to attain physical and mental health, well-being and personal growth. Yoga builds physical strength alon Photo from Bonnie's Japan Trip g with inner strength, which provides mental and emotional discipline.

Physically, yoga improves and stimulates the body's health.
Mentally, yoga aids alertness and promotes focus and clarity.
Emotionally, yoga produces feelings of stability and self-satisfaction.

Because yoga is a practice of self development, its versatility allows practitioners to focus on the aspects most prevalent to them. Be it the physical benefits of yoga, the psychological, the spiritual, or a combination of them all.

Yoga is simply a series of basic physical poses, easy to learn breath work, and guided meditation - all geared toward channeling stress out of the body and calming the mind. In fact, an intermediate step of yoga is quieting the mind, something we all could benefit from!

The goal of yoga is personal inner liberation.

Is Yoga for Me?

"I can't do yoga, I can't tie my body into a knot!"

"I've never done yoga because I'm not flexible enough."

"Yoga is not for me; I'm not into all that spiritual stuff."

These are very common misconceptions and excuses people use to shy away from yoga. However, the only prerequisite to practicing yoga is an ability to move, and of course, to breathe.

Yoga is a personal practice. Only you know where you are physically, mentally and emotionally; and only you know where you want to grow. People choose to practice yoga for their own personal reasons that are unique to them.

Some may choose to benefit from the physical aspects of yoga, practicing to tone and build their muscles, and shape their bodies.

Others choose to benefit from the mental aspects of yoga, practicing in order to take a step inward and self-reflect.

Many choose to practice yoga for the emotional benefits it offers, such as stress relief, calmness, relaxation, and enhancement of attitude and outlook.

yoga aspects

Like most forms of physical exercise, yoga has varying degrees of difficulty. If you have very limited physical abilities, you can benefit greatly from the mental as well as physical strengthening benefits of a yoga practice. Conversely, if you are already in excellent physical condition, yoga can help build your strength, flexibility, and muscle tone, utilizing natural weight-bearing in various postures as you lift limbs and hold poses throughout the practice.

Photo taken on Bonnie's trip to Japan Overall, yoga is a non-strenuous approach to exercise that is suitable for all ages and body types.

Yoga is currently practiced by 7% of U.S. adults (15 million people), increasing by 28.5% in the last two years alone!
3/4 of fitness clubs now offer some form of yoga class.
Insurance companies such as BCBS prescribe and cover yoga for patients with heart disease, asthma, and diabetes.