What do Spiderman, Catwoman, and ninjas all have in common? They all wear masks.

They’re all freakishly nimble.

Also, they all rock. Agility is the best way to impress your friends and enemies. You will only be able to make limited progress if you just repeatedly push buttons without any care or precision. This also applies to making progress towards fitness, where you need to have muscle control to go further than just relying on willpower and endurance.

The final piece of the Triforce of Health is a mix of flexibility, balance, and style.

It is the piece that is missing that can stand alone or can tie everything else together.

You can get it through Yoga!

What is Yoga?

Yoga consists of a series of body-weight postures and movements that are designed to improve the body in several important areas. Over 908 yoga poses exist that work your entire body by either developing strength or flexibility. Generally they fall into the following categories:

• Forward bends
• Back bends
• Balancing poses
• Seated and twisting poses
• Standing poses
• Arm balance poses
• Core poses
• Inversion (Upside-down) poses
• Restorative poses

As well as various breathing techniques. The ancient wise men realized the importance of breath control and spent a lot of time learning how to optimize it.

For each pose, there are both easy and hard versions, from very simple to extremely advanced. Yoga can be done by anyone, even those who are not in good shape or are not flexible. The really advanced stuff is much more difficult than acrobatics.

Poses are carefully balanced so that your body is worked evenly:

• A forward bend is followed by a backward bend.
• Inversions follow standing.
• Left side follows right.

There are a few widely recognized sequences of poses, such as the Sun Salutation, which can either be done as an incredibly meaningful ritual or as a yogic pushup/backbend/stretch which only takes a few minutes. Another widely recognized pose sequence is the Moksha Series, which takes about an hour to complete and pretty much does everything most people want out of yoga. Each practice session is different from the last.

5 reasons why you should try Yoga… like TODAY!

Yoga is the best way to de-stress and slow down

Life is busy, yes? If you’ve been feeling like you can never get ahead of your to-do list, or that there aren’t enough hours in the day, it might be time for you to try a yoga class. Yoga is a philosophy that believes that being present in the moment is key to finding inner peace. It only exists in the present moment. Which is like ummm, life in general. This present moment is all there is to life. Life is not happening in the past or the future, it is happening now.

This knowledge and these teachings are very calming and relaxing. Focusing on the present instead of worrying about the future can be helpful.

When you spend an hour focusing on your breath, your body will destress itself. This is because breathing through your nose promotes your parasympathetic nervous system to switch on. Yoga relaxes the body and mind so that we’re no longer in a state of constant stress. Ahhh. Life never felt so good!

Yoga allows you to live in the present moment and promotes clarity of the mind

The only time you can do yoga is in the present moment. It is very difficult to think about anything else when you are trying to balance on one leg. In other words, if we focus on our breath and balancing on one leg, all other thoughts will disappear. The author is referring to reliving past events in their head over and over. Or maybe you’re thinking about what’s for dinner? Even when you’re trying to focus on your yoga practice, it’s normal for your mind to wander. But you’ll quickly be brought back to the present moment if you make a mistake or miss a cue for the next pose.

Yoga is all about being aware of how your body feels in the postures. This practice is not about how it looks at all, it allows you to be present. Can you feel the energy in your hands? Feels like tingles right? Focusing on how your body feels allows you to become present and clear your mind, and you end up feeling good.

The more you focus on being present and mindful, the more clear your thoughts will become. The less ‘stuff’ will bother you.

Yoga releases muscular AND emotional tension

Did you know that when we hold onto emotion, it can find spots in the body to become stagnant? If you have ever done a yoga class, you may have heard your teacher talk about this.

Maybe for you it’s your shoulders? Or your back? Whatever you might be feeling, it is probably not just your muscles, unless you have done something like running a marathon. It’s usually some form of emotion you haven’t released! Deep breathing and stretching help to get rid of stagnant energy. The class (or your living room if you’re doing an at home practice) makes you feel much better than when you walked into it!

Yoga is not a competition

The voice in your head that says you’re not good enough/not pretty enough/not flexible enough is something you’re familiar with. It’s that voice that says “I can do that better than them,” “Why am I not like her more?,” and “I wish I was more… ok you get it.” And I KNOW we’ve all had these thoughts before.

Yoga helps to quiet the ego, allowing your true self to shine through. When you have negative thoughts, your true self speaks up and makes them go away. This is Yoga.

If you want to make a change in your life, you must first accept your current situation. Then you can decide what action to take to create the change you want. Otherwise, we’ll always be grasping for more. More. More. And aren’t we already enough? Aren’t we already whole and complete? The answer is yes. A million yesses.

Yoga isn’t a competition. Not with others and not even with yourself. This text is about giving your best effort every day. Yoga only happens in the present moment, so even if you can do a headstand today, be aware that tomorrow may be different. There is no difference in doing a headstand or not doing a headstand. It does not make you a better or worse person. Although performing a headstand does not necessarily make someone a kinder or more loving person, it does show that they are physically capable of doing the move. Our goal should be to do our best, and that is all we can realistically ask of ourselves.

Oh, well ain’t that a nice life lesson?

Promotes better posture (perfect for desk workers) PLUS it’s for all ages, sizes and abilities (YOGA IS FOR EVERY BODY!)

When you stand with good posture, your shoulders down and relaxed, and your heart open, life feels like it flows better. We all spend too much time driving, sitting at our desks and looking at our phones. We are forever hunching slightly (or a lot) forward. This makes you slouch and causes pain in your neck and shoulders. Ouch.

When we hold our head in a neutral (not slumpy slouchy) position our head weighs about 5 kgs but when we slouch forward 30 degrees it weighs about 20 kgs and then if we slouch 60 degrees it weighs about 30 kgs! If you’re experiencing neck or back pain, your posture might be to blame.

Yoga creates GOOD posture. It’s not only about strengthening the muscles to hold us up nice and strong but also about lengthening and opening the muscles to make us feel at ease and comfortable in our posture. This can help us avoid injury and pain in the long run.

Getting Started

“Okay, you’ve convinced me. What do I need to do to complete this task?

Yay!!! There is a whole bunch of different styles of yoga , but the three most common are:

• Ashtanga (long holds to build up strength)
• Hatha (more stretching for flexibility and rehabilitation)
• Vinyasa (more transitions, leading to more grace and agility).

To someone who is just starting out, any style or combination of styles will be great. Pick whatever seems appealing, and off you go.

Equipment is easy. The absolute minimum requirements for this activity are appropriate clothing, a water bottle, and a non-slip surface to prevent accidental splits. Your clothing should allow you to move comfortably and freely while being durable and not getting in your way. Shorts and a t-shirt are fine. Fancy yoga wear can make you feel more confident and proud of your body, especially if you are in good shape. Gents, you’ll probably want shorts with a bathing-suit style liner guard to protect your bits, and ladies, there isn’t a whole lot of bouncing so you don’t need super-supportive sports bras, just something comfortable that won’t stab you (I’m looking at you, under-wires).

A yoga mat is the best option for a stable surface, but you can also use the floor or sticky gloves and socks. They range in price from $30 to $200. Yes, the more expensive ones are better. No, you don’t need them. A spray bottle containing soapy water and a towel are also required to clean the mat occasionally.

There are all sorts of additional toys you can buy, the first being a bag to hold your yoga-mat (I use a 4 foot ribbon with loops on both ends. Very minimalist-classy, holds my water bottle with some creative knot-work, doubles as a yoga strap, and it cost a dollar). Blocks are placed under your limbs during yoga poses to help with balance, straps are used to help with stretches, and yoga swings are used for acrobatic poses. If any of these items appeal to you, then go ahead and get them.

The first step is to ________. You need to know what you’re doing before you can do it.

Ways to Practice Yoga:

The most common way to practice yoga is probably attending group classes with live yoga teachers. A trained teacher can help you improve your skills and give you the support of your classmates. You’d be surprised how much observation can improve your skills and the experience of a whole class in flow is amazing.

DVDs are a great way to learn yoga from world-renowned teachers because they are inexpensive and can be watched at any time. There is a ton of yoga DVDs to fit anyones needs, from beginner to experienced, and even for those who want to do yoga specifically for running. There are some disadvantages to videos, such as the lack of variety (you will want to buy more than one DVD pretty quickly) and the lack of individualized instruction or answers to your questions. If you have special health concerns, working out at home with DVDs is not a good idea. Unless you have enough room to invite a few friends to do yoga with you, you’ll be practicing alone. That can be good or bad, depending on your preferences.

Online videos are often free or very cheap. You can find instructions for anything you want and use them to practice at any time. Youtube is full of videos produced by unqualified people. Watcher beware.

Yoga websites, journals, and books are a great way to learn more about yoga. There is a surprising amount of text and pictures devoted to yoga, so you can easily find a wide variety of resources to help you learn more about this ancient practice. I love these books for the explanations they provide of yoga poses and the philosophy underlying yoga practice. Although you may find still photos of poses to be helpful, they may be frustrating for beginner students who are trying to piece everything together.

After you have become more comfortable with the material, you can make up your own methods. There are a thousand resources out there that can give you ideas on how to customize your practice to fit your hang-ups, preferences and goals.

When you make a practice for yourself, you create something that is uniquely you. And self discovery is what yoga is all about. As long as you include a variety of poses in your routine, you should be fine. Just make sure to have a good mix of different types of poses.

If you want to see the benefits of practicing yoga, you should do it every day, rather than just once a week. You could spend a minimum of ten minutes a day, or a maximum of two hours a day, or an hour or two a week. Whatever works for you.