What is Yoga

Yoga has existed here in Singapore for many years. As far as I could recall, in the 1990’s, my classmate once mentioned that his friend, who practiced yoga, could run for long distance without panting. He said this was the result of the yoga breathing technique. I did not pay much attention to this or to find out more about yoga, partly because yoga class was not common at that time but mainly because being a student, my duty was to complete my polytechnic studies and get good results.
Yoga has gradually gained popularity for the past several years and you could easily find yoga classes conducted at almost every community centre as well as sports complex. But you might need to sign up early because the class usually gets fill up pretty fast.
A month or two earlier this year, I walked into the community centre near my place and enquired about the yoga class which was opening soon. The counter staff kindly informed me that the class was full but they could still put me in the waiting list. He then cautioned me that all the applicants are ladies!
Where are the guys? Is yoga a lady-kind exercise that shy away the guys or it is a just a flexibility exercise that Singaporean tough guys would find themselves too stiff to get along? Or career man thinks that it is just a stress release exercise which he fears to be mocked by friends or colleagues that he is under stress in his work or life?
I think the vast populations here still do not know what yoga is all about.
Yoga is more than just mastering postures, increase flexibilities and releasing stress. In fact, these are just the few benefits of practicing yoga.
Yoga is a practice to cleanse the mind and the body so as to be released from constrains or limitations of the present self in order to attain a happy and peaceful state.
Because what we eat and what we do is what we are, we are always surrounded by sicknesses and emotional fluctuations. Even if you are rich, you wouldn’t be happy if you could not release yourselves from these constrains or limitations.
Yoga make you healthy, have a peace of mind and enjoy happiness internally and bring happiness to others as well.
Basic yoga practices for beginners are:

  1. Breathing – proper breathing technique improve respirations by increase the oxygen intake and circulation around the body to effectively remove the waste product produced by the body
  2. Asana – proper postures and movement techniques exercises various parts of the muscles, joints and organs to strengthen the body immune system, improve blood production and circulation, align the body anatomically for unobstructed flow of energy in the body, produce internal heat to burn away toxins
  3. Relaxation – proper relaxation to calms the body and mind to allow rejuvenation, release stress, promotes healing
  4. Diet – proper food selections to keep you stay healthy and joyful as certain food will cause laziness, increases anger, while other food promotes heath and cheerfulness

Yoga is good for everyone, guys and ladies, children and elderly. It’s never too late to start learning now.