by Michele Falco

Created on: September 26, 2008

YES. Yoga is a beautiful and profound science that has been modernized. It was also described as a phaze and a cliche. Yoga defines as a systematic discipline. We unite body and mind as well as our soul when we focus. Yoga is about focusing. Now only do we connect with our breathing but we are using our breath as a tool. many people may belive and view yoga as people who twist themselves into pretzels. Even though some can do that, yoga is not about competition. Judgement and competition and ego are not condusive to Yoga. Yoga is about being in the now. Poses (asanas) allow you to test your limits, to challange yourself and to be aware. Although cardio is a great work out and a treadmil will cut calories as you run on it for about an hour. Yoga massages the organs, while reducing stress and blood pressure. Yoga focuses on every area of the body. It lifts, elongates, brings space and promotes over all good health. The benefits are endless and yoga is also addictive. As a lover of yoga, I can not go one day without doing at least a 30 minutes practice. As a teacher, I am always fidning ways to learn from other teachers. Do not fall in love with the teacher but with the practice. This has been rpeached to me for as long as I have been taking yoga. Yoga keeps you physically fit by toning, stretching, bending. For example, in Down Dog, you LIFT the spine. You do not get that on a treadmill or crunching or spinning at the gym. In half moon pose, you stretch the entire rib cage. In triangle you are creating space in the body. Fish pose, you assist the lungs in thier breathing process as your chest is lifted and lungs are open. Yoga brings strength and flexbility to the Spine. The Spine is LIFE!

There is a big difference between running on a treadmil and doing an hour of yoga. COmpare the two and you will feel it right away. Yoga leaves you feeling open, relaxed, renewed. I recommened many people to do at least 30 minutes a day. people with arthritis and scholiosis benefit greatly from yoga because you are dealing with the joints and mucles and the spine. Yoga favors the back in every pose. If your sitting all day, your back is locked and there is a saying...if you don't use it, ya lose it. It's true. The muscles need to be warm and moving in yoga one pose into another keep the spine from stagnanting and constricting and the joints from turning cold. In yoga you are also draining the lymphnodes as you are ridding toxins hat build up in the body. You are lubricating joints and mucles, your oragns benefit from yoga by massage in each pose. The longer you hold the pose, the more you benefit from the pose. As you breath, you detox with deep inhalations and long exhalations.

But the physical benefits are just a part of the Yoga practice. It truly is a powerful experience. Yoga brings harmony with soul, mind and body and spirit.

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