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Yoga And Fitness – The Only Holistic Science And Art of Living

What is overall advantages of yoga? Does it offer complete health fitness?

The overall advantages of Yoga are many and, yes, it does offer complete health fitness. In fact, Yoga is the only holistic science and art of living that promises overall good health at the physical, mental and emotional levels. While all other exercise and workout regimens promise to, and very often even succeed in delivering results, you will find them mostly confined to the body. Yoga takes care of the body, mind, and heart – the seat of emotions. This only serves to make it more relevant in the modern age when most indispositions are said to be psychosomatic, with the mind for their basis. Take sinusitis, asthma, chronic constipation, uncreative colitis, arthritis, blood pressure, diabetes or heart trouble, to name just a few. These are all psychosomatic ailments all of which can be controlled through Yoga practices. Most notably, Yoga is a preventive science, which if done regularly, helps keep these ailments and illnesses at bay.

The Yoga we are speaking of consists of the eightfold path of the sage Patanjali consisting of the following:

1. Yamas (restraints)
2. Niyamas (observances)
3. Asana (yoga exercises and poses)
4. Pranayama (breathing exercises)
5. Pratyahara ( inward withdrawal of the senses)
6. Dharana (concentration)
7. Dhyana (meditation) and
8. Samadhi (a state of super-consciousness)

The first two steps, Yamas and Niyamas, are a set of moral and ethical codes of conduct for mental, emotional and spiritual purification and upliftment. The next two steps – 3 and 4 – are, specifically, designed to heal and improve physical health and well being. The next three steps Pratyahara, Dharana and Dhyana (withdrawal of the senses, concentration and meditation) are mainly concerned with mental and emotional well being. Yoga also includes lifestyle and dietary recommendations to improve health, heal (psychosomatic) disorders such as those mentioned above, increase stamina, strength and flexibility, bring down levels of anxiety and stress, increase immunity and improve concentration.

Unfortunately, what passes of as Yoga nowadays, are often just exercises, poses and breathing techniques. It is important to dispel this misconception that this alone is what Yoga is all about. Yoga is a lot more than just a physical culture. It is a complete, holistic way to tone up the body, the muscles and internal organs, not just to sculpt a beautiful body but to have good, overall health – physical, mental and emotional. It is true that in the bargain, you might just end up with a muscular physique, even though this is not the aim of Yoga. The ultimate goal of yoga is to develop good overall health, tranquility, peace of mind and happiness.

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