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The Benefits of Yoga Essay

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Yoga has been around for centuries, but it has recently increased in popularity. Yoga originated in India and refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines. There are 5 major branches of yoga in the Hindu philosophy, they include: Raja yoga, Karma yoga, Jnana yoga, Bhakti yoga, and Hatha yoga (Yoga). Yoga goals vary and range from improving health to achieving Moksha (Yoga). “In the state of Moksha lies the ultimate peace, ultimate knowledge, and ultimate enlightenment. Paradise is believed to be a place of temporal attractions to be avoided by the seeker in order to pursue the ultimate goal of union/yoking with god through yoga.” (Moksha) After finding out a little more about yoga I began to wonder about it a little more. I …show more content…

“With a strong diaphragm you can breathe better during vigorous exercise,” Susan explains. We move into some stretching that is not too out of the ordinary. As we move to a standing position the difficulty begins. We get instructions on every pose and a modification to the pose if it is too difficult or painful. We are told to come into a squatting position with heals are on the floor. As I look around the room, everyone is bumbling around a bit. We all finally come to the correct position. We have everything just right and Susan tells us to push our elbows into out thighs and shift our weight to our hands. Not everyone can get into that position. It requires a lot of balance to have your feet off the floor with your body weight on just your arms and hands. Susan informs us, “This is frog position, if you cannot get all your weight on your hands do not worry about it, it will come with time and practice. By this time I am sweating and my breathing is starting to accelerate. Looking around the room I am not the only one. This class is turning out to be a lot tougher than I thought it would be. We are instructed into pose after pose. Each pose it feels like we hold longer and longer. By this time I am sweating profusely and ready for the hour to be over. However, once we are done I feel like I really

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