Is your dance card so full that finding time to take a breath of air seems impossible!  You’ve read and heard that taking a yoga or meditation class would be highly beneficial but between work, family and community commitments, we barely have time to pet the dog let alone find time for self nurturing! Unfortunately all these obligations take a toll on our bodies and minds, leaving us exhausted and “stressed out”.   Many of us start to wish someone would give us a time out just so we could close our eyes and catch our breath, even just for a moment.

Well the good news is, that even brief moments of stillness and deep breathing can literally alter our brain waves, helping to manage anxiety and depression, and even help lower blood pressure.  A regular practice of hatha (physical) yoga combined with pranyama (conscience breathing) has been shown to help regulate weight, build strength, tone and reshape your body, and reduce stress and anxiety..  The word hatha means willful or forceful.  Hatha yoga refers to a set of physical exercises (known as asanas or postures), designed to align your skin, muscles and bones.  The postures are also designed to open the many energy channels of the body – especially the main channel, the spine so that energy can flow freely.

Yoga is amazing – even if you only practice for one hour a week, you will experience the benefits of the practice.  If you can do more than that, you will certainly experience more benefits.  Unlike stretching or fitness, yoga is more than just physical postures.  Incorporating mindfulness and breath with the postures helps us to direct our attention inward.  Through this process of inward attention, we learn to recognize our habitual thinking patterns, which for many of us are the root causes of stress and anxiety.  Once these patterns are recognized we begin to cultivate a more nurturing, positive attitude towards ourselves.

One of the most common questions people ask is “if I am not flexible, how can I do yoga?”.  Actually, they are the perfect candidates..  Many people think that they need to be flexible to begin yoga, but that’s a little bit like thinking that you need to be able to play tennis in order to take tennis lesions.  Come as you are and you will find that a yoga practice will help you become more flexible.

This newfound agility will be balanced by strength, coordination, and enhanced cardiovascular health, as well as a sense of physical confidence and overall well-being.  Give  our yoga class a try, it might make you see yourself in a whole new light!

For more information visit http://www.newlifehealthandwellness.com/Group_Fitness.html  Yoga is included with our regular membership!!