Yoga, an old practice for modern life

Imagine you have folded your body into a pose called “The Inverted Lotus. You breathe in and out deeply and wonder if you will ever be able to walk normally again. Your muscles disagree with your ambitious mind and the next day you feel muscles you didn't even know existed.

This is yoga, a blend of grace, movement and meditation to unite body and mind in improved health and inner harmony. By practicing yoga regularly, you will discover the relaxing and strengthening properties for which yoga is known. 

We have to dive into the past for more than 5,000 years when looking for the origins of yoga. Archaeologists found stone seals in the Indus Valley, in northern India, depicting figures in yoga postures. The word yoga, Sanskrit for “union,” was first mentioned in ancient texts in which Vedic priests described their songs, mantras and rituals. Yoga-like practices, in turn, were first really mentioned in an ancient Hindu text known as the Rigveda. In the Katha Upanishad, texts dating from the fifth and third centuries B.C., the word yoga was first used with the same meaning as the current modern term.

Yoga continued to evolve over all these centuries, but as yoga masters traveled to the West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they gained attention and followers there, and yoga became known as a posture-based exercise for physical fitness, stress relief and relaxation. 

It helps you look at life more positively and find more peace within yourself but at the same time, on a physical level, yoga can help you relieve lower back pain, strengthen muscles, improve balance and poise, lower blood pressure and relieve tension in the body.

Yoga helps reduce stress and promotes good circulation, essential for healthy, glowing skin. Spending time on your yoga mat regularly can help you achieve a more relaxed state and reduce the production of cortisol, a hormone that can aggravate acne. Healthy and clear skin is your reward. Postures such as the Cobra and the Bridge stimulate blood flow to the face and can help reduce acne and give you a natural blush.

After a good yoga session, you will have beautiful glowing skin, a natural dewy glow. Depending on your style of yoga, there are specific yoga poses that open the chest. We'll spare you the Indian names like Ustrasana and Trikonasana, but the Camel and Triangle promote deeper breathing. This increases oxygen intake, crucial for skin cell health. 

The beauty of yoga is that it is adaptable to anyone's abilities or needs. Yoga is not only a powerful way to work on your physical health and promote mental well-being, but at the same time it is a very accessible form of exercise that allows people of all ages to participate in yoga. For the elderly, yoga can help keep the body supple, improve balance and strengthen their inner harmony. For children, yoga can even stimulate creativity and help develop their body awareness and concentration. 

So roll out your yoga mat more often and experience yoga's profound effect on skin, body and mind.