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Simply Yoga

I titled this article Simply Yoga because I want to give you a down to earth, everyday view of yoga. You really don't have to stand on your head, or tie yourself in knots to perform yoga and it's great for your body, mind, and spirit. What I give you here is taken from my own personal experience with yoga.

Yoga Stretches

Whenever the subject of yoga comes up most people think you have to be flexible to do it. The beauty of simple yoga stretches is that you don't have to be flexible to gain the benefits of it. For those of you that are out of shape and want to change that, yoga is a good way to start.

The advice that all yoga teachers pass on to their students is, do not push your body beyond its limits, it is not supposed to hurt. Start with simple stretches, when you feel a slight pull in your muscles, and I mean slight, that's where you stop and hold the posture for a few seconds and slowly come out of the posture. Find the yoga postures that you feel most comfortable doing and with time you will discover improvement in your flexibility.

If getting up and down from the floor is difficult you can do Chair Yoga. This is especially good if you are recovering from an illness or injury. It doesn't matter what kind of shape you are in you can do Chair Yoga. It's even great for those of us that are stuck sitting at a desk all day. You are already in the chair why not take a quick 5 minute break and do some Chair Yoga.

Yoga and Health

Your body was designed for movement. Muscles need to be put to work and need to be kept reasonably flexible. Yoga can warm up the body before performing strenuous exercise or sports activities, this helps prevent injury.

Yoga is a wonderful stress reliever. Stress is the leading cause of most health issues these days. You have a stressful job, family situations, even just thinking about the world's events can stress you out. Carrying all that stress day in and day out causes health issues, headaches, high blood pressure, insomnia, just to name a few. All these left unattended build into bigger health issues. Yoga can relieve stress, therefore, the issues that result from stress are relieved as well. Yes, it's simply yoga and its simplicity is the key that makes it so easy to incorporate into your daily life.

Everyday Yoga

I know every day sounds like a time consuming task, but it really isn't, trust me.

Did you know that the simple stretch you do each morning when you wake up can be considered a yoga move? That's the best and easiest time to incorporate yoga into your day. You can do it while still in bed, there are many yoga postures that are traditionally done on the floor that can also be done on your bed, how comfy is that! When your feet hit the floor first thing in the morning you can also do a few standing yoga stretches.

I urge you to get a good book of yoga postures and try the ones you feel most comfortable doing once a day in the morning or evening (a great time to release those tensions of the day). Even better to do it both morning and evening it's a wonderful start and end to your day.

You don't have to perform an hour long routine every day, but just one, two, or three of your favorite yoga postures will get you going on the way to better health. Progress begins with one small step at a time, remember it's simply yoga and its simplicity will produce wonderful benefits for your body, mind, and spirit.