Daily routines, society, and media can wear our mental, emotional, and physical capacities down. Yoga provides a sanctuary for our strength to rebuild and an inner stability from which to grow.

1. Balance
   Asana and pranayama provide a mental-physical-emotional maturity, allowing us to control and surpass negative habits and patterns and the mental resistance that we build as human beings.
2. Clarity
   Mental stability, concentration, and coordination are among the many benefits of yoga. The focus develops through yoga practice and the clarity in which we see the world around us. During your days, through meetings and hours on the road, the mind remains relaxed and refreshed, flexible to situations which may arise.
3. Nutrition
   As your body becomes clean and wholesome, you will notice a change in the food it craves. The body desires balance as much as the mind. Our prana, vital energy, is affected by the foods that we put into our bodies and it will crave whole and natural foods.  In yoga nutrition philosophy, food is categorized into three types.
   
   
   • One is Sattvic, or ideal nourishing foods that are easy to digest. These give balanced energy and a clear mentality. All fresh fruit and vegetables are in this group, including natural cereals, cheese and ghee, and whole pastas, nuts, and grains.
   • Tamasic foods are ones to eat fewer or try to avoid. Tamasic is as simple as eating too much! These include foods that are fermented in vinegar or alcohol, canned or preserved, stale foods, or those that are unripe or overripe, that sap our body’s energy and dull the mind. Also included are meats, fish, and mushrooms.
   • The third group includes rajasic foods, or those that overstimulate the senses and change the control of the mind. Eating too quickly and mixing combinations of food is considered to be rajasic, which is important to avoid. In this group, you will find onions, hot peppers, white sugar and flour, eggs, and most convenient foods.
4. Physical Fitness
   As your lifestyle in yoga evolves, you body will become tone; the muscles flexible and lean. You may notice subtle changes in your body weight. Yoga practice massages the internal organs to function properly and stimulates the glands, balancing the nervous system and the water balance within the body’s systems. Asana practice leads to better blood circulation and your resistance to disease and your energy level greatens.
   
   You will feel contentment and be able to focus on the things that you truly want to accomplish.

There is a quote by the famous French painter, Henri Matisse, who said “What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.” This truly is yoga.

Benefits of Inversion Asanas

Inversions defy gravity, building character, defeating mental shortcomings, and developing confidence against our fears.
Our head clears with the increased blood supply, improving our mental stability and concentration, defeating lethargy and a tired body.
Inverted poses also balance the hormones of the body, bringing a fresh supply of blood to the thyroid and parathyroid glands, the pituitary and pineal glands, as well as the endocrine glands.
Anti-gravity clears toxins from the tissues, cleansing and nourishing, and improves circulation.
Because the heart must pump stronger, they also have an aerobic affect.
Mentally, one gets a new perception of the world, becoming revitalized and re-energized to new ideas and new twists on old ideas. We become youthful and inspired.

Benefits of Poses for Meditation

Meditative Poses restore the body and mind, resting the nervous system and opening the body while freeing the mind from structured thought.
You expend minimal energy in these postures, nurturing a sense of safety and comfort.
These poses build energy. Use them whenever you feel sluggish, or have an important event to prepare for. This is also important to combat sickness, disease, and mental instabilities.
Use as many props as necessary in these poses for maximal comfort and peace.

Benefits of Standing Postures

Standing postures encompass the effects of every type of Asana other than Inversions.
One defines personal strength, flexibility, balance, and overall health from the practice of standing asana.
The flow of energy is limitless. Standing poses allow us to root ourselves firmly to the core of the Earth and expand farther than the mind can comprehend, learning stability and extension and perfect body alignment.

Benefits of Balancing Asanas

In daily life, our attention and mind are pulled in many directions towards many tasks and routines. Our balance is affected by our distraction and constant motion.
Asanas for balance develop our cerebellum, coordination, focus, and concentration, while also bringing greater muscle tone, agility, poise, and body awareness. Increased capacity of concentration and focus leads to a healthy outlook, steadiness, and a balanced mental, emotional, and spiritual state of being. Practicing balance develops our independence, giving the ability of self-reliance and a challenge to our endurance and flexibility.
Balancing postures connect us with the ground as we root ourselves for the movement. We also connect with the sky through extension and expansion as we pull into the asana, relying on our selves and gravity.
Balancing asanas also conserve energy expenditure.

Benefits of Backbend Positions

Backbends keep the spine supple and aligned properly, while bringing awareness to the vulnerable portions, making them stronger.
Backbends realign the spine, counteracting and re-teaching the body’s poor habits and making daily movement more comfortable, lending poise and grace.
Backbends bring heat and energy to the spine. Because the vertebral column houses the energy pathway of the body (Sushmna Nadi), backbends help invigorate stagnant energy while working with the second to fifth chakras in particular.
By activating the abdomen, they stimulate the kidneys, reproductive, and digestive system.
Backbends build character, strength, and confidence – all attributes of the third chakra (at the solar plexus).
Integrity of the spine creates integrity of the mind, combating depression and lethargy.
By opening the chest, backbends also work with the heart center, encouraging complete expansion of the lungs. This brings vitality.
The open belly and opposition of a curled-in pose helps us deal with vulnerability, spreading awareness of the body and mind.

Benefits of Forward Bend Positions

Folding into our selves quiets the mind and encourages a meditative mindset. Forward bends foster the ability to listen to our intuitive self, to our heart.
The force of deep breathing and pressure of forward bends massages the internal organs and may alleviate digestive complaints and relieve gas.
They also help balance the nervous system as the pelvis is home of the parasympathetic system to rest and restore all-around health.
Forward bending maintains and restores the integrity of the spine.

Benefits of Pranayama

Once breath is discovered and mastered fully, one becomes aware of ‘prana’, or the eternal life force, or energy. This is similar to the oriental ‘chi’.
Conscious breath encourages conscious action and conscious living. All are goals of yoga.
It is written in the ancient text, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, “Respiration being disturbed, the mind becomes disturbed. By restraining respiration the Yogi attains steadiness of the mind.”
The breath is a bridge to our nervous system. It may be a useful tool, not only in daily life, but stressful, exciting, and mental situations. Let your breath be your tool towards total wellness.
Breathing exercises have a cooling effect on the body, relaxing and calming the mind and nerves.
Even complete breath promotes evenness of temperament!

Benefits of Meditation & Relaxation

Rejuvenation of the body
Clear and focused mind
Release of tension and anxiety
Separation from the ego