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Yoga is an ancient art which seeks to promote individual health and well-being through physical and mental exercise. It is not a religion and fits well with any individual's religious or spiritual practise.

Yoga involves techniques for stretching, strengthening and relaxing the body. Yoga also works with the breath. It works on alignment of the spine and stimulates the abdominal organs all of which results in generally better health.

It is recommended by many Physicians and Chiropractors, and can be safely practiced by people of all ages. Yoga is an ancient Indian body of knowledge. It is one of six classic Indian arts and deals with the way to achieve personal enlightenment. Its origins are lost in the ancient history of India but it is known to be at least 3000 years old. The Bhagavad Gita which probably dates back to 200 BC is one of the best known ancient books on the subject. In it the god Krishna takes on the form of Arjuna's charioteer and explains Yoga philosophy to him in the alegorical context of a battle between his family and their rivals.

There is also a text from roughly the same period called Yoga Sutras by the author Patanjali which presents the whole subject in 186 short sentences known in Sanskrit as sutras (from the sanskrit word for a thread). This short work would have been required reading for any Yoga student in classical times. We have several excellent translations with commentaries in our book shop. Patanjali has given us the best definition of Yoga yet. It is simply "Yoga is that which stills the mind".

In yoga classes we spend most of our time doing apparently physical exercise and much care is given to meticulous alignment of the body in the various asanas (postures). This makes the body strong and supple and healthy. It improves the circulation and stimulates the abdominal organs which results in generally better health. However it seems fair to ask what is the connection between stretching out the body and stilling the mind.

It is commonly supposed that in meditation we let the mind go blank or some such thing but in fact in meditation we bring the activities of the mind into focus. Most of us need something more immediately available to develop focus and what could be more available than our physical body. So the asana practice which develops awareness of our body helps us to focus. This process readily moves onwards and inwards into developing focus on the more subtle aspects of our being. Here is the connection. By working mindfully on the body we learn to focus the mind.

So the practice of yoga is not just the stretching of the body. Yoga is not obly for keeping fit, but for many people keeping fit is their first reason for practising. This is perfectly acceptable. However everyone who practices inevitably catches a glimpse of the deep inner peace which comes during savasana - the relaxation at the end of every class. This is just a taste of the infinite depth which Yoga can reveal.

Yoga is more than keeping fit. It leads to true meditation by focusing the mind.