Yoga is a discipline for self-development that is more than 5000

years old. There are many types of Yoga, but most include physical

postures, breathing control and meditation. Stress reduction

techniques include mental imagery, stretching, controlled

breathing and physical movement in the form of postures. The goal

of any Yoga discipline is to improve flexibility and obtain

peacefulness in the body and the mind. This will have the over all

effect of leaving you with the ability to deal with everyday stress in

a more productive way.

Understand that Yoga is not a cure-all. It can help with certain

medical problems such as depression and combined with a

healthful diet, aerobic exercises and medication, has benefits in a

reduction in some cardiovascular disease and blood pressure

levels. Yoga is an important part of the Hindu religion and is a way

of life for them, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you would

need to change your life style in order to reap the benefits of

Yoga.

One of the most popular Yoga discipline in the U.S. is Hatha Yoga.

Hatha Yoga is designed to increase flexibility and to calm the mind.

It focuses on poses or postures along with controlled breathing.

In a Hatha Yoga class, you will probably learn a number of poses

that induce stretching and twisting. Some poses are meant for

calming the mind as well as increasing flexibility like the Viparita

Karani pose or the legs up the wall pose. The Cat Cow stretch will

have you on all fours on the floor with your wrists underneath your

shoulders with the knees underneath the hips. This pose will

increase spinal flexibility and strengthen the stomach muscles.

Hatha Yoga is called the Yoga of postures and includes relaxation

exercises designed to open the nadis or energy channels which

will allow the energy to flow freely through the body. Other poses

are designed to relax internal organs, which can prevent diseases

such as hypertension or high blood pressure and diabetes. Hatha

Yoga requires concentration on postures, called asanas and

pranayama or controlling the breath.

In Hatha Yoga, mastering a comfortable pose where you will be

able to keep that pose for a certain length of time is important in

the practice of real meditation. The more poses you can master,

the better you are able to develop inner meditation techniques.

Also mastering the breath is important because controlled

breathing will eventually allow the balancing of the right and left

hemispheres of the brain.