Yoga simply means union. We very often go through life forgetting the very thing that carries us through our life, 'the body'.

We can frequently get caught up with thoughts of the past or become anxious about the future; yoga helps bring focus to the present moment. It's a time to spend on focusing on the breath and body.

In my experience, and based on the teachings of many, placing your awareness on 'the now' and relaxing the body and mind through a practice such as yoga and meditation, the future will take care of itself.

Yoga has the power to transform and whatever reason starts you out on the path whether it's to kick start a health regime, to lose weight or relieve stress before you know it you will be on a path to discovery that can lead to a sense of inner freedom that keeps on expanding as your practice grows.

The most important aspect to any yoga practice is correct or effective breathing. We all have our own 'in born' relaxation response, the opposite is the fight or flight response, which is brought on by stress or fearful situations. If we want to be in control of the fight or flight response we need to learn to breathe from our diaphragms. This will automatically put you into relaxation response.

Yoga practice is a perfect way of training your mind to breathe from your diaphragm, then throughout your day when faced with challenging situations you can bring on the relaxation response, your heart rate and blood pressure decrease, and you can decrease pain and allergic reactions. You literally increase the flow of blood to the brain and the periphery, you are 'in the flow'. You become more aware more tuned in, decreasing anxiety, and preventing depression.

De-pression is a constriction of the natural flow, you feel unmotivated and uninspired, so when you inspire, or breath in and then out from your diaphragm, you help your mind and your body. The study of breath awareness is called pranayama, it literally means expansion of prana or life force. Focusing on breath helps to create a sense of inner space, it creates gaps in the stream of thinking. Without the gaps, your thinking becomes repetitive and uninspired.

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