The Benefits of a Yoga Practice

There are as many reasons for doing Yoga as there are people. Our survey of over 4,000 students who have attended courses at our school in the past 12 months, indicate that over 50% come for relaxation and stress relief, 20% are interested in improved health, body tone and quality of life, and the remaining 30% are a blend of people interested in personal growth, the advanced study of life and self-awareness.

Flexibility

We are born flexible. Our bodies at birth move with ease. Nerves, circulatory system, bones, muscles, glands and organs become restricted and function less efficiently as we get older. As a result energy and vitality decreases, and the body becomes less sensitive and has less capacity to move.

Health

Disease is the dis-ease of the body. The functional systems break down creating illness and lack of energy. Health is one of the prime objectives of Yoga. Postures are the tools for maintaining and improving the body’s function. They give people the ability to open, stretch, clean and heal their body from the inside out.

Awareness

Good health requires a total perspective—internal as well as external. Yoga poses help in the development of flexibility and movement. Increased sensitivity through Yoga can provide people with early warnings. The Yoga feedback systems help us to focus on areas that need special attention through either diet or stretch. This is a far wiser way in which to look after ourselves rather than waiting for some breakdown to occur.

Eternal Youth

Aging is inevitable. Yoga cannot prevent the inevitable decay of the body, but it can provide a huge enhancement to the quality of life in the meantime. For some, quality of life begins to wane in their 20s and by age 40 serious restriction to physical and internal function has occurred. This process of early decay is not inevitable and can, through the subtle process of Yoga, be reversed without an invasive procedure. The entropy of the body is the process of life. Managing that process affects our life. As we age we rely less on the physical and focus more on the mental and spiritual, but they are intrinsically linked. Opening to change requires the sensitivity and awareness that asana practice develops

Relaxation.

One of Yoga’s prime objectives is to help people relax and de-stress. There are so many ways this can be achieved. • Yogic breathing calms the nervous system and provides an intense counter-position to any activity causing stress. Both the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems respond to Yogic breathing exercises. • Yoga practice can support and strengthen a higher metabolic rate which in turn aids in immune function and stress management. Specific poses are used to sedate/stimulate the body/mind.

Meditation.

We cannot meditate: we only provide situations and conditions which enable the body to become present enough for meditation to occur. Lying flat on the floor, warm and supported, with appropriate props is an excellent meditation position. Deep relaxation can occur in this position. The reason this position is not used in classical meditation is because lying flat in such comfort our mind begins to wander and typically we doze off (well, I do anyway) after a relatively short period of time.

Emotional balance.

Tension held in the body grips tissue, muscle, bone structure and organ function. Emotions held in the body result in imbalances. Imbalances breed imbalances and these are stored in the body. Yoga postures can re-open channels to free stuck emotions, release blockages and, through the body, transform the mind. This is a vital factor in health care and stress management.

Stress management

It is far wiser and more productive to manage stress when it occurs rather than on a month by month or year by year recuperation basis. Holidays and free weekends are special. However, in the period between these de-stressing times, stress and tension can hinder a full and productive life. Yoga teaches stress management through breath, body and mind control. These are invaluable resources in a busy and productive life, and they can be used right at the moment when stress arises.

Yoga is a great antidote for a stressful lifestyle. The less we tic-toc between extremes the more balanced and fulfilled our life can be. Yogic breath is the ideal way to maintain the balance both after and during work. We breathe all day yet it is only when we focus our attention on the breath that we truly “breathe”. Focussing on the breath at different times during the day and adjusting that breath to the circumstances can have a major impact on our performance and enjoyment of life. During your practice As well as the physical stress relief, Yoga offers a different mental perspective on stress management. When we are able to see our world with a clearer perspective, many stresscausing situations evaporate. Our perceptions of events usually polarise things into good and bad, right and wrong, pleasure and pain. This is how stress is caused. The more we learn to see things with a broader mind, the more stabilised we are when we find ourselves in the eye of a storm, and the less stress affects us, the more we stay on track.

Health and wellbeing

• Yoga offers considerable benefits in improving and stabilising health. Through focused and consistent practice, Yoga has been used to help heal cancer, kidney problems, weak heart, asthma, bronchitis, urinary problems, prostrate inflammation, constipation and migraine. The list goes on. There are in fact few “illnesses” that cannot be assisted through Yoga. Sports injuries, chronic back pain and emotional instability are also common concerns that bring people to Yoga.
• In Ashtanga Yoga practice significant internal heat is generated through breath and body movement, and this begins a deep and thorough detoxification process.
• Maintaining flexibility and the body’s functions becomes an issue for most people when they enter middle age, or when they are injured. Flexibility of the body is essential for waste removal and the efficiency of other fluid systems, and for the easy flow of blood. Opening stiff and tightly bound muscle areas in the body contributes to an improvement in health and greater mental flexibility.
• Recovery from post-operative stress is also a common goal for people joining Yoga classes.

Self—actualisation

• The drive for personal development and self-actualisation is natural. Most people eventually ask the bigger questions of life. When an individual’s quest goes beyond the basic instincts, Yoga offers a path to universal answers.
• Yoga practice contributes to a deeper self-awareness and an understanding of the change process for personal growth. To this end, Yoga, with the appropriate teacher, can help us to grow and develop deeper self worth and a more creative self-expression.