To most of us, yoga is just a lot of strange poses that help to improve one’s flexibility by stretching. To those who practice yoga, it’s more of a system that helps people bring their entire body and mind into focus and tranquility, sometimes to the point that a few people actually consider it a religion of its own.
True, there is a lot of stretching involved, but that’s only the start. There are literally hundreds of different poses and many different disciplines of yoga. The disciplines are known as the Eight Limbs Of Yoga, and each one concentrates on a specific area of yoga. They are:
• Yama – depending on who you follow, either 5 or 10 rules for virtuous living;
• Niyama – 5 guidelines for one’s following one’s own morals;
• Asana – yoga poses;
• Pranayama – breathing for exercise and relaxation;
• Pratyahara – learning how to withdraw from the pressures of the outside world;
• Dharana – learning the power of concentration
• Dhyana – learning how to meditate to block everything else out;
• Samadhi – learning how to be aware of oneself and their surroundings without thinking about it
Yoga done correctly takes a long time to learn, but for many people, it can be quite relaxing and a way to not only get away from it all, but to exercise at the same time. It’s always been known that muscles could be built up through a process known as dynamic tension, which would explain how animals like cats, which don’t seem to get a lot of exercise, still build up muscle.
With yoga, the idea isn’t to build up muscle as much as to tone the body and make it flexible, which means it’s harder to be injured. And, the process of going through all the steps can be relaxing because yoga is a deliberate practice, nothing you rush through.
Yoga is considered safe for anyone to try, and it will make a lot of people feel better overall.
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