Yoga

Yoga has been practiced for thousands of years bringing health and serenity to the body, mind and spirit.  The word “Yoga” means “union” and its central idea is once of balance.  Yoga encourages harmony and relaxation.  The therapeutic side to Yoga helps an individual become more aware of body posture, alignment, and patterns of movement.

Benefits

Yoga promotes mental rest as well as physical stretching and strengthening.  Its benefits are vast ranging from muscle toning to detoxification and lubricating joints, tendons, and ligaments.  The following are a few examples of the many benefits:

• Pulse rate decreases
• Respiratory rate decreases
• Blood pressure decreases
• Increased joint range of motion
• Mood improves and subjective well-being increases
• Self acceptance and self actualization increase
• Social adjustment increases
• Immunity increases     
• Depth perception improves  
• Balance improves
  

Level 1 Yoga:  Beginner Level.  Hatha Yoga tries to achieve balance between body and mind, as well as attempts to free the more subtle spiritual elements of the mind through physical poses.

Level 2 Yoga: Intermediate Level.  Vinyasa Flow Yoga is “breath-synchronized movement.” This style allows for a lot of variety including stretching along side strengthening movements.