Yoga
<h2>WHAT YOGA IS</h2><table><tr><td></td><td><p>Yoga is the health, strength and flexibility of your body.</p><p>Yoga is an ancient science that for thousands of years has concerned itself with a person's physical, mental and spiritual well-being as a whole, and which interests people today mainly as an effective means of improving physical and emotional condition.</p><p>Yoga involves disciplining the intellect, the mind, the emotions and the will. Above all, practising yoga gives good health and emotional stability.</p><p>Yoga can restore your energy balance and the vitality that is lost through stress and overwork.</p></td></tr></table><p>Yoga has been growing steadily more popular of late, pushing aerobics and fitness out of first place. This gives rise to a common misconception that yoga is simply another sport, like running, swimming or gymnastics. Yoga, however, asks for more than regular practice for the sake of health - it gradually begins to change the way the practitioner lives. Yoga is often thought to be a part of Hinduism or Buddhism, but that is mistaken - yoga is a way of reaching particular goals, not a religion.</p><p>Practising yoga does not mean becoming a hermit and living alone in the mountains. A practitioner is an entirely ordinary person living an ordinary life. For yoga it makes no difference what your profession, social background, religion, nationality or age may be. There is nothing mystical about yoga; it is neither a religious belief nor a rite. Those who practise it say that it helps improve life in every one of its aspects.</p><p>Yoga is used to ease problems associated with high blood pressure, migraine, asthma, high cholesterol, back pain, indigestion, menopause, shallow breathing, sclerosis, varicose veins, carpal tunnel syndrome and a great many chronic conditions.</p><p>Iyengar, or classical, yoga is the calmest of all and has no age restrictions. It helps you acquire practical skills in relaxation and meditation, master the basic poses, and teaches you how to fill the body with energy.</p><p>Understanding and studying classical yoga usually begins with learning the "asanas" - a set of specific exercises - combined with breathing practice, the "pranayamas". On the physical level the yoga poses, called asanas, are designed to tone the body and make it stronger and more harmonious. Through the practice of these poses our spine becomes more flexible and better able to bear load, the flow of blood to the organs increases, and in this way every system in the body is strengthened. On the mental level yoga uses the techniques of breath control (pranayama) and meditation (dhyana) to calm, cleanse and discipline the mind. And yet specialists say that yoga is not a religion, nor even a philosophy - it is a way of life in which body and mind are in harmony and can reach the goals set for them without frittering themselves away on trifles.</p><p><a href="joga/assany/">More about asanas, pranayama and meditation</a></p><p>Modern psychological research has shown that even slight changes in facial expression already act involuntarily on the nervous system - and yoga, for its part, is built on the link between body and mind. Yoga rests on the principle that certain postures of the body, combined with a pattern of breathing, can influence a person's mood and inner balance, and so help the body regain its form and heal itself.</p><p>Yoga is the best method of conscious and harmonious self-development: it restores full self-control and gives a deep, quiet confidence in one's own strength; it is health, a harmonious balance of physical and mental powers on any day and at any hour, an instant readiness to act quickly and precisely; it is the dynamic unity of every element of the body; it is a trim, supple frame and good posture; it is the ability to work well and at length and to rest fully. And it is inner discipline and long life.</p><p>Useful links:</p>