Yoga is a way of moving into stillness is order to experience the truth of who you are.  It is also a way of learning to be centered in action so that you always have the clearest perspective on what's happening and are therefore able to respond most appropriately. 

Yoga is not the only way of doing this, of course, but it is an excellent way.  

As you move into the depths of stillness, subtle and powerful changes will become apparent in your life.  These will be both profound and entirely welcome.  you will become familiar with the creative God Force inside you, the energy at your core. 

Moving into stillness in order to experience your true nature is the primary theme of yoga simply because everything about you (every thought, feeling, and emotion, as well as every aspect of your behavior) is predicated on the way you feel about yourself.  The way you feel about yourself determines how you think, what you do, and how you interact with the world.  

Yoga makes you feel good, it's relaxing, energizing and strengthening.  You feel better at the end of a session than before you began, and life runs more smoothly when you maintain a consistent discipline than when you don't.  Yoga enhances your experience of life and changes your perspective.  

One of the most obvious things about having a body is that it tends to stiffen and tighten the older we get.  As we grow older, our range and ease of movement diminishes, we are not as spry as we once were, we move more slowly and experience more aches and subtle pains.  We are less energetic, less resilient to change and more prone to injuries, which could take longer to heal because of our age.

As the body tightens, it becomes less efficient and more prone to disease and degeneration.  It literally begins to choke itself.  This internal constriction inhibits the circulatory system, not only of blood and other fluids, but of the essential life force.  Thus, when the circulatory system  (which irrigates, oxygenates, and feeds the cells) is inhibited, the cells' food supply is diminished.  This gradual undernourishment contributes to the overall aging, drying, and hardening of the body.

With yoga we can dramatically retard, even reverse, the tendency to stiffen as we age.  and bring the suppleness of youth back into our life and be more flexible, durable,  and stronger than we were as children.  We can learn to focus our physical and mental energy more effectively and thereby be more vital, creative, and efficient in all of our activities. 

There are many physical benefits that accrue from regular yoga practice.  The three most obvious are the immediate increase in your balance, strength and flexibility.

1. BALANCE- Improved balance refers not only to the heightened physical coordination you will acquire, but to the balance of power between the left and right, front and back, and high and low aspects of your body.  Yoga creates symmetry throughout your whole body, making you strong and flexible in a balanced way.  It also teaches you to balance the mental impulse to push, control and be assertive with the complimentary impulse to yield, surrender and be passive.  This balanced attitudinal equilibrium, rather than hampering the energy of either impulse, heightens the effectiveness of both.

2. STRENGTH-The whole tone of your body will change as your strength increases.  You will have an easier time handling your own body weight.  you will feel sturdier and more sure of yourself.  you will have a lighter step, your experience in the world will become a pleasure, and life will seem and be easier.  A consistent yoga practice will make you strong and light.

3. FLEXIBILITY- As you free your body and become more flexible, you not only restore lost movement, you actually erase all the tensions and internal conflicts that would otherwise accumulate and eventually erupt as pain.  The more flexible you are, the harder it is for pain to lodge in your body.  Pain and tension are forms of blocked, stuck, misplaced, and misused energy.  Being more flexible opens these energy blockages and frees your energy circulation.  Your entire body will feel clean and new as the stuck parts are freed and released.