The Benefits of Yoga-"Health is Wealth, Peace of Mind Happiness, Yoga Shows the Way." Swami Vishnu-devananda

Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual, Cultivate Your Own Garden with Yoga, by discovering the tools that can bring each of us in touch with our true nature through Yoga.

Yoga is one of the best stress busters you can find. In addition to greater strength, flexibility, and a re-sculpted body, Yoga 'Relaxes', 'Calms', 'Centers', and 'Grounds'.
 
It leaves you with a feeling of peace and tranquility, throughout your whole being. One of the first things you will notice if you practice with care, attention, and intention, is a feeling of deep, but alert relaxation when you are finished.

Yoga offers a wide range of physical, and mental benefits. Though these are not the purpose, they are unavoidable. Yoga when used as intended, as a spiritual practice, encompasses and transcends, all of its partial possibilities.

Yoga uses the body to transform the mind, and the body is in turn, also transformed. Recalibrated. Revitalized. Harmonized. Brought to a functional peak unreachable by any amount of cross training.

Yoga improves health which in turn increases vitality, enthusiasm and appreciation of life. The increased circulation resulting from movement, and efficient muscle use, tones the whole body. The muscles, joints, internal organs, connective tissues, and skin are bathed in a continuous flow of fresh blood.

This not only brings nutrients to the cells, but helps to purify them of toxic wastes. The heat produced by the practice furthers this purification by opening the cellular tissues to enhance release of toxins.

This means the whole body is cleansed, and nourished more efficiently. This in turn optimizes not only the condition of the various parts of the body, but also their functioning.

One of the most striking signs of a seasoned hatha yogi is soft, smooth, shining skin. It is this, and the effect of overall body tone on posture, that often makes them look much younger than they are. The same vibrant quality conferred on the skin can also be seen in the eyes.

Yoga has as its practical aim, a deep self-acceptance which is based on self-knowledge, self-validation, and self-empowerment. This means that it acts as a mirror to reveal to us exactly what we are on every level of our being; Physical, Emotional, Psychological, Social, Cultural, and Spiritual.

We can then use this revelation to harmonize these different aspects of ourselves, and live our lives from the rich, integrated wholeness of our being. In short: self-love that spills out from itself into a genuine compassion for, and interest in all beings, and phenomena.

Yoga is not a religion. You are not required to believe in any God, or Gods. Nor in reincarnation, or karma. Yoga is a process that precludes the need for religion. It is a way of being. A means to clarify, and reveal the nature of reality, and human existence. Once this is underway, the need for religious guidance is unnecessary. All one needs is the practical advice of someone who knows the way.

Yoga is a philosophy which by design needs to be practiced continuously, throughout the day, week, year, and lifetime. The ability to be calm in the midst of action, and the ability to have a quiet mind in the midst of turmoil, is the mark of a true yogi.

A lotus (yogi) lives in the marsh (the material world) but is unaffected by it. But opens its beautiful petals (mind, heart, and soul) to the loving grace of the Sun (God). The lotus has petals which are unaffected by water (sense, desires) and marsh (evil) with its beautiful stem (good) indicating that both does co-exist in the material world, but without the Sun (God) the lotus (yogi) will die.

Looking for me! All our lives, we search for someone to love, someone who makes us complete. We dance to a song of heartbreak, and hope. All the time we wonder whether there is someone somewhere that is perfect. Who might be searching for us. All the while we forget to look within ourselves to rediscover the forgotten spirit, and the divine who is the embodiment of all love nature can ever provide us.