Yoga is about finding peace in the mind,

love for your body and joy of spirit.

Anyone of these alone would be incredible to achieve but bringing all three of them together allow us to be our complete, divine self. Yoga releases stress and eases burdens of the mind, it strengthen and heals the body, and it opens your heart so that your spirit can know the oneness of all things. This is at the heart of the teachings. It's about getting to know yourself and connecting with the essence of who you are.

Thinking about trying yoga? Watch this video!

Yoga is a journey and a way of life and yoga is for everybody.

Yoga is a path that’s accessible to a lot of people. We are here to evolve, to grow and to change. Life is more than just get up and go to work, go to sleep and do it again! It’s about living, growing, being a part of humanity and yoga gives us that opportunity. Yoga allows us to discover the deeper meaning in every day life.

Research on the Benefits of Yoga

Manjunath NK, Telles S, 2005 compared the impact of Yoga (physical postures, relaxation techniques, and voluntary regulated breathing) and Ayurveda (an herbal preparation) on sleep in the geriatric population:

• Sixty-nine seniors evaluated.

• Self-assessment over a one-week period for the baseline.

• Afterward three and six months of their respective interventions.

• Yoga group showed a significant decrease in the time it took to fall asleep (average decrease of 10 minutes)

• It also showed an increase in the total of number of hours slept (average 1 hour).

• Other trial groups showed no significant change in sleep.

Conclusion: Yoga practice improved quantity and quality of sleep among the senior population.

Dash M., Telles S., 2001 studied improvement in handgrip in rheumatoid arthritis patients versus normal volunteers following Yoga training:

• Handgrip strength in both hands (measured with a grip dynamometer) increased in normal adults and children

• Handgrip strength also increased in rheumatoid arthritis patients following Yoga.

• No improvement among the corresponding control groups.

Jain SC, Uppal A, BhatnagarSO, Talukdar B, 1993 at the University College of Medical Sciences in New Delhi conducted the following evaluation:

• 30-to-60 year old patients with Type II diabetes.

• A 40-minute-per-day regimen of Yoga was followed for a period of 40 days.

• There was a significant decrease in fasting blood sugar levels

• There was also an average improvement of 10 percent in lung capacity.

Conclusion: Over time Type II diabetics can achieve better blood sugar control and pulmonary functions when they follow a daily Yoga regimen.

Damodaran A, Malathi A, Patil N, Shah N, Suryavansihi, Marathe S, 2002 evaluated the overall benefits of Yoga on risk factors for heart disease.

• 20 patients in the age range of 35 to 55 years

• All had mild to moderate high blood pressure

• They each practiced Yoga daily for 1 hour.

• Patients experienced a decrease in blood pressure

• They also had a decrease in blood sugar, cholesterol and triglycerides.

Conclusion: Feedback indicated that the patients were calmer and had reduced blood pressure.

Kristal et al, 2005 evaluated practicing Yoga regularly for middle age:

• It is estimated that people typically gain about 1 pound per year between the ages of 45 and 55.

• Half an hour of yoga per week may help offset middle-age weight gain.

Conclusion: Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found that weight gain in those who practiced yoga weekly and for at least four years had a 3.1 pound reduction in expected weight gain.

The Harbor-UCLA Medical Center(May, 2001) conducted a study to assess what effect, if any, Yoga has on stress levels.

Conclusion: During the study, all participants expressed that their moods and anxiety levels were improved as a result of their Yoga sessions.

A side effect to this stress-reducing benefit is that it may actually encourage some seniors to eat better, lowering their risk of cardiac issues and diabetes, assisting in the loss of excess body fat.

A study by the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (2001) studied patients who were experiencing chronic pain.

Many people speculate that any form of group activity, be it Yoga or otherwise, is mood-elevating for seniors as they may be living alone and/or have limited social interaction due to physical limitations.

• Patients practiced yoga for 4 weeks

• All patients either improved or maintained their symptoms.

• No patients deteriorated

• Every patient significantly reduced the amount of pain medication needed.

Conclusion: Yoga practice has been shown to aid those suffering with chronic pain, and depression. Group contact provides improves social interaction and provides a sense of belonging.

Lung Problems/Breathing Difficulties

Nagarathna R; Nagendra HR; Seethalakshmi R, 1991) studied breathing difficulties:

• Evaluated eighty-six bronchial asthmatics.

• Patients were treated by a yoga-chair breathing procedure

• Process included simple neck muscle relaxation movements

• Postures (or "asanas") with breathing exercises were also included.

• 70%of the episodes were relieved within a mean time of 30 minutes.

Conclusion: The patients gained confidence in this breathing technique and used it before resorting to prescription medication. Reduced anxiety worked well toward relieving the acute breathing difficulty episodes.