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Yoga brings not only a suppleness to the body, but also a sense of
spiritual and physical well-being to those who practice it.
Yoga is finding your limits, expanding your boundaries, and being
truly able to relax into who you are. It’s about taking time to
remember who you are but have forgotten while being caught up in
the whirlwind of a fast-paced life.
One of the reasons that Yoga has grown dramatically in popularity is
that it makes you feel harmonious, integrated and complete. As you
learn about your centre in a Yoga Asana (pose), you practice finding
your centre in other areas of your life.
An author named Patanjali wrote the Yoga Sutras, the first text on
Yoga 2,500 years ago. In this text he defined Yoga as chitta-vrtti-nirohdah, which means “the cessation of the tunings of the mind”
The name Yoga itself comes from the Sanskrit word yuj, which is
often translated as “to unite, to join, or to connect” All these
associations imply reintegration, and rebalancing or bringing
yourself to a harmonious state. Other meanings of Yuj include “to
centre ones thoughts, to concentrate on oneself, or to meditate
deeply.”
 The Rewards of Yoga
The continued practice of Yoga brings medium and long term
rewards for the body and mind – the combined physical, psychological
and spiritual aspects of an individual. It also yields an instant feel-good effect and uplifting mentally and physically.
The wonderful thing about Yoga is that it is never to early or late to
start. Do not feel that you need to be aged 20 or super flexible to tie yourself
into knots! Don’t judge your practice by how far you can or cannot
stretch. Never feel inadequate if you cannot hold an asana (pose) for
long, or because it doesn’t perfectly mirror the picture you have seen
in a book. You just need to practice spreading the awareness
through your whole body and seek grace in your breathing.
Just start the journey – you never know where it might take you…
One to one Yoga sessions available please
contact us for details, classes taught from Yoga Motion, Burnham and
Datchet Health Club.
Relaxation - Meditation
In my experience people are often wary of
'Meditation', perhaps thinking this is part of a religion, that it
will be difficult , or concerned they will need to sing strange
chants and wear dodgy sandals and a kaftan ! Less daunting perhaps,
is seeing the practice as a mixture of concentration and relaxation.
By concentrating on the breath or just stopping
and being aware of your thoughts as they come into and out of your
mind even focusing on a positive thought – these are all forms of
meditation.
Peace and stability of mind are natural to us, but
we usually overlook or simply miss them.
Instead, our attention is distracted by the
demands of our day to day activities and by our thoughts, feelings,
doubts and anxieties, our ideas about ourselves, the reality we
build around ourselves and how we wish things could be.
Our minds can become so dominated by these
activities that they leave little or no room for any deeper
dimension in our life. Or to enable us to quite simply relax.
We sometimes get glimpses of an inner, stable
centre that is common to everybody. You have perhaps experienced
when playing sports, when completely relaxed or engaged in an
activity that you love to do. But our mental chatter and
emotional activity often pulls us away from this stable centre.
The great thing is that anyone can meditate
anywhere e.g. on a plane, train etc– no special equipment is
required and it costs nothing. 10-20 minutes a day can help the mind
to clear, you are more alert, and you have more energy to deal with
the demands of the day.
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