In a world that is increasingly fragmented, that sends our minds in a million directions with each new piece of information, it’s nice to know that there is a practice available to everyone who seeks it that brings the mind in touch with the stillness and wholeness within.

This is yoga. It begins with the body. Most newcomers to yoga in the West think this is the end of yoga, but it is only the beginning. A very important beginning it is, too. The gentle exercises and postures of yoga put the practitioner in touch with his/her body. An awareness of our bodies is something that many of us have lost these days. How useful it is, though, to truly be aware of our bodies; to know how to move our bodies to ease stiffness and pain; and to be aware of the body’s subtle energy flows. The practice of yoga eventually leads to this kind of awareness.

The many physical benefits of yoga are too numerous to mention here, so I will mention a few common ones only.

1. Problems with the back or neck are one of the main reasons why people start the practice of yoga and yoga is generally wonderful for these types of conditions. The yoga postures both ease stiffness and create muscular strength so that pain is eased and the backbone is given strong muscular support. This is true for other muscles and joints of the body, too.
2. Stress is another problem that motivates many people to join a yoga class in search of relief. I think yoga is particularly good at alleviating stress conditions for a number of reasons. Firstly, let’s understand stress – it begins in the mind (what we have to do; what we haven’t done; what people think of us; etc.) and effects the body (increased heart rate, tense muscles, etc.) and the emotions (feelings of anxiety, inadequacy and anger). Now yoga, being a multi-levelled practice, works on each of these areas – meditation and the breathing exercises calm the mind; the breathing exercises also relax the breath and calm an increased heart rate; the postures release physical tension in the body; and emotions are relaxed through relaxation sequences and with the release of tension in the other areas mentioned above.
3. Some other health benefits are: the normalisation of blood pressure through some of the breathing practices; the gentle massage internal organs receive from some of the postures; and the lymphatic and endocrine systems are also encouraged to work more efficiently. These are a few of the common ailments that yoga is helpful with.

Connected with the body is the breath, on which yoga places much importance. Breathing exercises and more advanced breathing practices (pranayama) are undertaken to bring both stillness to the mind and energy to the body. The mind and the body are connected by the breath (just think of how you breathe when you’re relaxed and how your breathing changes when you feel tense) and good, deep breathing is necessary for both a healthy body as well as a healthy mind.

The mind and the body are inextricably linked. However, there is one aspect of yoga that seems to focus on the mind alone, and that is meditation. To meditate simply means to attempt to focus the mind on one thought, one object or one mantra, rather than let it run free, thinking of the millions of things it usually wants to think of at once. It’s extremely difficult to do this, because the mind’s desire to be in a hurry is very strong, so it takes a lot of willpower to rein it in. We are not to be disheartened, however, because even a mere attempt at controlling the mind brings about enormous benefits.

So we’ve looked at the body and the mind, but what about the Spirit? Well, the more you practise yoga and the more in touch you get with your body and your mind, the more you realise that the Spirit, God or whatever name you have for the Universal Being, is behind everything that we do. It is by no means a pre-requisite to believe in a Higher Being to practise yoga. However, for many people who’ve incorporated yoga into their lives, an awareness of the existence of something beyond ourselves develops along with the practice itself.

As I often say to the people who come to my classes – you take from yoga what you want. It is a practice for body, mind and spirit, but the choice is yours.

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