People today are rediscovering what yoga practitioners have known for thousands of years-that yoga's simple stretching exercises provide the opportunity for a lifetime of radiantly good health and inner peace. Health professionals now recognize that yoga's preventive, healing benefits can be the perfect antidote to the stresses of the modern world. In approximately 2 A.D., the great Hindu sage, Patanjali, wrote down the principles of classical yoga in the Yoga Sutras. The stretching exercises familiar to Westerners are hatha yoga, a small branch of Raja Yoga. While a small dose of hatha yoga can result in a heightened sense of well-being, a regular regimen will reward you with a body that's lighter and more flexible.
Scientific studies confirm many of yoga's benefits.
In an article in Medicine, Exercise, Nutrition, and Health Journal, a team of Georgia Tech researchers concluded that a 32 minute yoga routine was a more efficient cardiovascular exercise than the same amount of time spent walking on a treadmill. According to the research team, yoga's cardiovascular value, along with its ability to enhance flexibility, strength, and coordination, qualifies it as an important form of exercise. A plethora of healthcare providers, hospitals, and insurance companies confirm yoga's preventive benefits. M.D. In her best-selling book, Back Care Basics, Dr. Schatz advocates a program of therapeutic yoga exercises for the prevention and rehabilitation of back pain. Studies on yoga exercise, relaxation and meditation techniques indicate that it can relieve high blood pressure, help chronic pain and illness, and neutralize the toxic stress of modern life.