Yoga develops Strength and Calmness

Yoga actually comes in many forms nowadays, from philosophical to religious to the merely physical. As with any idea that becomes popular, Yoga has many branches that continually evolve as new people carry the Yoga mantle forward and add or take away from it by their own interpretation and application of such ideas.

For practical purposes, I find yoga to have the following effects:

Calmness and Relaxation from holding the various dynamic stretching poses. You know that feeling when you're unstoppable, when you're in the Zone--that place of simultaneous Full Alertness and Full Calmness--that's the feeling taking your Yoga poses seriously can give you. A very cool natural high. Serious endorphin relesage.

Increases strength. Because you're holding sometimes awkward poses, your body is forced to compensate by activating various muscles to hold yourself in that position. The strength you build, then, is all-around, building your entire body at the same time.

Increases flexibility. Forget just stretching your hamstring; yoga poses have you stretching and strengthening every area of your body, including the overlooked ones.

Improves posture. Simply put, you'll walk taller and swifter, with more grace and poise, and you'll have less back pain (if you do have back pain, and your doctor says its ok, click here to learn how to strengthen your core).

Increases mental and physical Endurance. Sometimes this must be experienced to be understood (and believed).

Don’t brush off the practice of performing yoga poses just because it’s not as “manly” as lifting rods and plates of iron. The benefits mentioned above are as real for women as for men, and increase the longer you train in yoga. Flexibility, endurance, and strength are the true jewels to be mined from yoga, but you must be diligent in effort!

**NEW ADDITION!

After an extensive researching period, in which I researched dozens of Top-Quality Yoga websites--the results of which might be published in a future website, if readership interest is high enough--I am recommending this Yoga Superstore, called Health and Yoga Online, that I am happy to recommend because of its content information value (CIV), Support Service Efficiency (SSE), and TONS OF PRODUCTS! Essential to reaching new stages in your Yoga journey, is 1) Access to Knowledge, 2) Products that allow you to hold a pose you couldn't hold with just your own body, or those that speed you along a certain pose or process faster. If, for example, you cannot hold a Gymnastic Bridge, a Yoga Block would reduce the amount of bend required to complete the pose, thereby allowing you to take a critical step towards mastering that pose. Also, a lot of us just do not have the time to drive 30 minutes out of the way for a Yoga class. Many top quality DVDs produced by known masters in the field are just as good a learning resource as going to a Yoga class. In fact, a Yoga DVD offers distinct advantages over the class. 1) With DVDs you get to follow along with worldwide-recognized Yoga personalities, while locally you might have 2 or 3 "Yoga Certified" no-namers. Which would you rather learn from? 2) With DVDs you can stop, pause, rewind, slow down, etc. You have absolutely complete control over your own pace and style of learning. You also can pop out your Yoga ABS DVD and opt to put in a Yoga for Legs DVD. How cool is that! Not only can you pause the "class" to get water or pee, you can change what the instructor is teaching if you want to focus on a different area of the body or want an extended or varied workout. Do not neglect the benefits I have touted here. Search for top-quality Yoga info and products at the resource that I use, over at Health and Yoga online.

The reason I take the approach to yoga that I do, is because of my study in closely related natural exercise fields: namely, isometrics, muscle control, self-resistance exercises, and dynamic stretching.

In isometrics, you will learn how to contract and hold each muscle of your body. The more intense the contraction, the more benefit you’ll receive. Think about this, what are your muscles doing when you lift weights? They are contracting. That’s right, contraction is just another way of saying the muscles are working (hard). In muscle control, you learn how to awaken and stimulate each muscle of your body, so that you are fully controlling your body in every movement that you make. In self-resistance exercises, you use your effort against yourself to produce resistance that builds strength and endurance. In dynamic stretching, of course, you make your body more limber. All of these natural disciplines are contained, to an extent, in yoga. So when you train in yoga, the thing to do is maximize your skill in each of these areas. The results are a leaner, stronger, more limber, well-controlled body.

You can pick up a good yoga ebook here (great for beginners, as this is an Easy style of Yoga, but something for everyone here): Yoga Made Easy.

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