How does it do this? Breath is the key to yoga practise. Practising yoga postures without breath awareness is not yoga. By working with your breath you start to unite the body and the mind, which is the meaning of the word ‘yoga’. Unlike more strenuous exercise the controlled movements of yoga, combined with deep breathing oxygenates the blood, generating more energy. Deep breathing calms our mind and together with the increase in energy it helps our mind become clearer, more alert and with a greater ability to focus and concentrate.

The postures of yoga are unique in that no areas of the body are omitted from being used, including fingers, toes, eyes and internal muscles. A fully rounded practice will develop long lean muscles, which have stamina and strength, and healthy digestive and reproductive organs. Weight bearing and concentration postures, such as handstands, forearm balances and standing balances, use the body’s own weight and concentration to develop strength in the body and equally in the mind. Flowing sequences working with the breath develop flexibility and fluidity, which help to keep the whole body healthy and improve alignment. Attention to detail and inner focus which engenders body awareness in postures, together with the use of pose and counter pose will ensure that no one area of the body takes undue strain, causing imbalance and instability in other areas. This is the reason many forms of targeted exercise cause injury; the natural harmony and balance is lost in striving for a particular strength, to achieve perfection in one area is often to neglect others.

The lesson we learn from yoga is that we achieve more by learning to let go and unwind physically and mentally. Once we can learn to relax our bodies, stop fighting resistance and simply wait for the muscles and soft tissue to open up we can achieve more than we ever thought possible. Little by little we rediscover ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses; which hip is the most flexible, which wrist is stronger, the ancient back injury resurfacing – it is always the areas we would rather forget about that we need to work with - the obstacles we need to overcome to take us further physically and mentally. Yoga helps us to explore our tight places and the pockets of tensions and then like a ball of wool unravel those knots so we feel healthy and whole once more.