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 Yoga
is a classical Indian discipline that makes you work for your
health and maintain it. Although the practice of yoga is widespread
today there is still a degree of misunderstanding about it.
People think it involves, one the one extreme, contortionist
gymnastics, and on the other, a key to instant relaxation and
meditation. Yoga is neither of these. It is a systematic way
for harmonious living and self-improvement, based on the principle
that man is a complex entity of physical, mental and spiritual
attributes.
Yoga is, among other things, a system
of physical exercises that cover an enormous range of body
movement and has an immense impact on the whole personality.
It is a safe, regenerative form of exercise that builds a firm
foundation of health. Practice leads to poise, self-confidence,
awareness of one's capabilities and increased confidence. There
is no age limit to improvement: thus, unlike many other physical
activities, yoga is not merely for the supple or the young.
Yoga is also a powerful system of healing, although that is
not its primary aim. For example, relief is felt from rheumatism
and arthritis, back problems, mentral disorders, migrane, circulatory
and digestive disorders and so on. This increased level of
health means that diseases find it more difficult to take hold
and are also easier to shake off or keep under control.
"Hatha Yoga. Its teachers and serious students are convinced
of its power to build strength and confidence, to improve flexibility
and balance, and to foster spiritual peace and contentment.
And beyond its attributes as preventative medicine, many of
us also believe it has the power of Yoga to heal, to aid in
recovering from everything from low back strain to carpal tunnel
syndrome and to help with chronic problems like arthritis,
MS and infection with the HIV virus."
– Anatomy
of Hatha Yoga: Timoty McCall MD
"Scientists estimate that an adult thinks some 50,000
thoughts a day; these are almost all concerned with the past
or future… there is little experience of life as it
is Now and Here… when we do rarely slip beyond this
continuous barrier of thoughts, we find that life suddenly
becomes vastly different…"
– Enlightenment:
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
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