Mindful Minutes: What is Yoga?

by Damla Eytemiz

Your boss thinks what he does is the best, your husband is waiting for dinner, your wife doesn’t enjoy your being late from work, kids demand non-stop, parents are complaining, you have a headache, you don’t feel like doing anything, not in the mood, kids think you work so hard and don’t spend enough time with them…..

In our daily lives, we all deal with a lot of problems. We think that our problems cause stress and anxiety, and they do, but we should also not forget that stress and anxiety cause many problems, too. So if those two factors are inevitable in life, then the best is to learn how we can manage them.

There are many methods, many tips for managing stress and anxiety. We read and hear so many of them every day. Everyone has their own methods. And of course, I have mine, too. I do yoga. Until I start doing yoga, I tried many things, but a year ago, I found that yoga works the best for me.

It can be helpful to understand yoga to benefit from its effects. By doing yoga, you achieve a peaceful body and mind as a result of the physical and mental disciplines it brings. Many of my friends who learned about my classes and my new job at Yogiños: Yoga for Youth® are wondering about yoga, so I wanted to share: 

On beliefnet.com, Valerie Reiss did a search for "yoga is", and here are some of the results she found.

What is yoga?

yoga is pure love
yoga is more than your foot behind your head
yoga is the path of union with the god
yoga is not a religion
yoga is good for you
yoga is technology to find your true self
yoga is a great exercise
yoga is for everybody
yoga is extremely powerful stuff
yoga is a system for body energy
yoga is a way of life
yoga is a sanskrit word meaning: to yoke together
yoga is hot

What is yoga to you? Let us know in the comments below.