The practice of yoga is therapeutic by nature. Yoga is aimed at self-knowledge through personal witnessing and understanding of the self.
Yoga focuses on healing at all levels of the person: physical, energetic, psycho-emotional, and spiritual, and can be applied to groups or individuals with specific health challenges. By awaking the student's connection to his or her own true source of wellness that healing can occur.
Yoga is a holistic healing discipline that offers a broad range of tools for supporting health, healing and personal transformation. Yoga's tools include postures, conscious breathing techniques, and meditative practices and much more.These tools can be utilized to suit the needs of the individual throughout the ever-changing stages of his/her life.
Slow down, take time,
discovering balance...
discovering strength...
discovering freedom in you!
Health Benefits of a yoga practice...
Stress Relief: The
practice of yoga is well demonstrated to reduce the physical effects of stress
on the body. The body responds to stress through a fight-or-flight response,
which is a combination of the sympathetic nervous system and hormonal pathways
activating, releasing cortisol – the stress hormone – from the adrenal
glands. Cortisol is often used to measure the stress response. Yoga
practice has been demonstrated to reduce the levels of cortisol. Most yoga
classes end with savasana, a relaxation pose, which further reduces the
experience of stress.
Pain Relief: Yoga
can ease pain. Studies have shown that practicing yoga asanas (postures),
meditation or a combination of the two, reduced pain for people with conditions
such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, auto-immune diseases and hypertension as
well as arthritis, back, neck pain, and other chronic conditions.
Better
Breathing: Yoga includes breathing practices known as
pranayama, which can be effective for reducing our stress response, improving
lung function and encouraging relaxation. Many pranayamas emphasize
slowing down and deepening the breath, which activates the body’s
parasympathetic system, or relaxation response. By changing our pattern of
breathing, we can significantly affect our body’s experience of and response to
stress. This may be one of the most profound lessons we can learn from our yoga
practice.
Flexibility: Yoga
can improve flexibility and mobility and increase range of motion. Over time,
the ligaments, tendons, and muscles lengthen, increasing elasticity.
Increased
Strength: Yoga asanas use every muscle in the body,
increasing strength literally from head to toe. A regular yoga practice can
also relieve muscular tension throughout the whole body.
Weight
management: While most of the evidence for the effects of
yoga on weight loss is anecdotal or experiential, yoga teachers, students, and
practitioners across the country find that yoga helps to support weight loss.
Improved
circulation: Yoga helps to improve circulation by
efficiently moving oxygenated blood to the body’s cells.
Cardiovascular Conditioning: Even
a gentle yoga practice can provide cardiovascular benefits by lowering resting
heart rate, increasing endurance, and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.
Presence: Yoga
connects us with the present moment. The more we practice, the more aware we
become of our surroundings and the world around us. It opens the way to
improved concentration, coordination, reaction time, and memory.
If your NEW to yoga and want to learn some basic yoga poses, visit the Yoga Journal website clicking here: Yoga Poses .
