{"id":18163,"title":"Yoga Yoga Yoga! What's all the fuss about?","description":"Yoga yoga yoga!What's all the fuss about?You gotta do yogaI hear everyone shout!But what is this yoga?A type of exercise?Is it to 'find myself'?Can I still eat French fries?It doesn't look easy,From the photos I've seenYou gotta be bendyAnd supermodel thin. I'm not wearing leggings,I gotta lose weight first,I cannot touch my toes,My balance is the worst!Yoga yoga yoga!It\u2019s all I hear about!But what is this yoga?Can someone help me out?","content":"

\"\"
Yoga yoga yoga!
What's all the fuss about?
You gotta do yoga
I hear everyone shout!
But what is this yoga?
A type of exercise?
Is it to 'find myself'?
Can I still eat French fries?<\/p>

It doesn't look easy,
From the photos I've seen
You gotta be bendy
And supermodel thin.
I'm not wearing leggings,
I gotta lose weight first,
I cannot touch my toes,
My balance is the worst!<\/p>

Yoga yoga yoga!
It\u2019s all I hear about!
But what is this yoga?
Can someone help me out?<\/p>

Yoga seems to be everywhere these days, but I think there is a lot of confusion about exactly what yoga is. Yoga is often thought of as a physical fitness class. The \u2018poses\u2019 or \u2018postures\u2019 practiced as part of yoga, are mistaken for yoga, but it is so much more. Yoga is a way of living. The Sanskrit word \u2018yoga\u2019 comes from the same root as the English word \u2018yoke\u2019; it can be translated as \u2018union\u2019 or \u2018connection\u2019. Yoga is at least 5000 years old, and although we know little about it in its ancient form, we do know that practitioners have always brought a myriad of other cultural and personal beliefs into their practice. Yoga is not a path of inherited belief, it is a path of experiment, which helps to improve our ability to perceive connection \u2013 connection with the present moment, with our selves, with other beings, with our environment, and with \u2018something bigger\u2019 than our individual selves: the interconnected whole. The basic principles of yoga that help to improve our perception of connection are:<\/p>

1. Guidelines, called 'Yamas' about how to relate to others and the world.<\/p>

2. Guidelines called 'Niyamas' about how to treat ourselves.<\/p>

3. Asana (posture) practice - the physical part of yoga which many people think is<\/em> yoga.<\/p>

4. Pranayama (breath control) - breathing practices and techniques<\/p>

5. Sense withdrawal - the practice of drawing inward.<\/p>

6. Focused concentration<\/p>

7. Meditation<\/p>

8. And finally ... bliss or enlightenment (I'm not there yet!)<\/p>

I will explain all of these in much greater detail in later blogs, but there you have it, in a nutshell, yoga is a way of life that brings about deeper connection with the present moment, and with ourselves, other people and the world, what's more important than that?<\/p>

\"\"
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