Yoga improves your physical health.
A consistent practice brings you increased flexibility, improved strength, better balance, more stamina, and general body awareness.
There are many forms of yoga practice, from Hatha (static poses) to Vinyasa (faster paced “flows” where you move from one pose to the next). Generally, most styles will help you find an increased sense of body awareness, as you go through the multitude of asanas. Vinyasa classes build up your stamina, while Pranayama (breathing techniques) help you draw awareness to your breath.
With standing poses (especially the balancing poses like Vrkshashana – Tree Pose), the strength and balance you build from practicing this may transfer to your daily life – perhaps you’ll realise that you can balance better when in a moving bus or train!
Source: Ekhart Yoga
Yoga is not just Physical Practice – it’s for the Mind!
Yoga teaches you to look within, to find yourself, and remove your ego.
Accepting who you truly are, rather than finding ways to compare yourself to others.
Highlighting the “Me” within that oftentimes get pushed aside for the sake of keeping up with the fast paced world we live in.
It’s strength of the mind that brings you through the difficult poses, it teaches you focus, acceptance, and self-discovery.
Yoga allowed me to slow down and “delete” all that external noise, and just focus on the inner self for that 60 minutes of practice. And perhaps you may find the same.
Yoga teaches you to LOVE wholeheartedly.
Yoga teaches you to be mindful, to be present, and to love.
There is a spiritual path namely “Bhakti” – to practice Bhakti Yoga, according to a definition I found on Wikipedia, “(Bhakti) simply means participation, devotion and love for any endeavor.”
Bhakti yoga has been called “love for love’s sake” and “union through love and devotion.” Bhakti yoga, like any other form of yoga, is a path to self-realization, to having an experience of oneness with everything.
Self-kindness, a theme I’ve come to appreciate after hearing many practitioners getting injured over the years for pushing themselves too far beyond their limit – is one of the examples that you may learn from “Ahimsa” – or the practice of non-violence.
Ahimsa is “respect for all living things and avoidance of violence towards others.” – Source: Google
Try and practice Ahimsa – love yourself, be kind to yourself, and be kind to all sentient beings.
