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In Sanskrit, the term `yoga` stands for `union`. A yogi’s ultimate aim is to be able to attain this `union` with the Eternal Self with the help of certain mental and physical exercises. It is often said that Hiranyagarbha (The Cosmic Womb) Himself had originally advocated the traditional system of yoga, from which all other Yoga schools have evolved. But for all extant knowledge of Yoga and its practices, such as yogasanas and pranayama, the entire credit goes to Maharishi Patanjali.

Patanjali systematized the various yogic practices and traditions of his times by encapsulating them in the form of aphorisms in his Yoga Sutra. In this momentous work, he describes the aim of Yoga as knowledge of the self and outlines the eight steps or methods of achieving it. These are:

•Yamas or eternal vows,
•Niyamas or observances,
•Yogasanas or Yoga postures,
•Pranayama or breath control exercises,
•Pratyahara or withdrawal of the senses from distractions of the outside world,
•Dharana or concentration on an object, place or subject,
•Dhyana or the continuance of this concentration-meditation and
•Samadhi or the ultimate stage of Yoga meditation.
         
People have gradually realized that being mentally fit is as important as being physically fit. The growing popularity of yoga globally confirms that yogic exercises keep one fit at the level of both, body and mind. By inculcating yoga and meditation in our daily regime, we can increase our resistance, improve health, and develop our mental abilities.

Benefits of Yoga:

At the physical level, yoga and its cleansing practices have proven to be extremely effective for various disorders.
 
i) Increasing Flexibility: yoga has positions that act upon the various joints of the body including those joints that are never really on the ‘radar screen’ also get exercised.

ii) Increasing lubrication of the joints, ligaments and tendons: Surprisingly it has been found that the body, which may have been quite rigid, starts experiencing a remarkable flexibility in even those parts, which have not been consciously worked upon. Research proved that seemingly unrelated “non strenuous” yoga positions act upon certain parts of the body in an interrelated manner. When done together, they work in harmony to create a situation where flexibility is attained relatively easily.

iii) Massaging of all Organs of the Body: Yoga is perhaps the only form of activity which massages all the internal glands and organs of the body in a thorough manner, including those – such as the prostate - that hardly gets externally stimulated during our entire lifetime. Yoga acts in a wholesome manner on the various body parts. This stimulation and massage of the organs in turn benefits us by keeping away disease and providing a forewarning at the first possible instance of a likely onset of disease or disorder.

iv) Complete Detoxification: By gently stretching muscles and joints as well as massaging the various organs, yoga ensures the optimum blood supply to various parts of the body. This helps in the flushing out of toxins from every nook and cranny as well as providing nourishment up to the last point. This leads to benefits such as delayed aging, energy boost up and a remarkable zest for life.

v) Excellent toning of the muscles: Muscles that have become flaccid, weak or sloth are stimulated repeatedly to shed excess flab and flaccidity.

vi) Harmonize the Mind with Body: All above enormous physical benefits are just a by-product of this powerful practice. What yoga does is harmonizes the mind with the body and this results in real quantum benefits. It is now an open secret that the will of the mind has enabled people to achieve extraordinary physical feats, which proves beyond doubt the mind and body connection.

Yoga through meditation works remarkably to achieve this harmony and helps the mind work in sync with the body. How often do we find that we are unable to perform our activities properly and in a satisfying manner because of the confusions and conflicts in our mind weigh down heavily upon us? Moreover, stress which in reality is the no.1 killer affecting all parts of our physical, endocrinal and emotional systems can be corrected through the wonderful yoga practice of meditation.

In fact yoga is equal to meditation, because both work together in achieving the common goal of unity of mind, body and spirit – a state of eternal bliss.

The meditative practices through yoga help in achieving an emotional balance through detachment. What it means is that meditation creates conditions, where you are not affected by the happenings around you. This in turn creates a remarkable calmness and a positive outlook, which also has tremendous benefits on the physical health of the body.



These are just some of the tangible benefits that can be achieved through yoga.
         
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