What is Yoga? 
Welcome to Simon Tolsons' Yoga Studio in Petts Wood
What is Yoga? Yoga is an ancient practice that creates a sense of union in all aspects of our being: in body, mind and spirit. The idea of union is a major theme in Vedic philosophy. Krishnamurti "Where there is separation there is inevitably conflict". With a Hatha yoga teacher, yoga can change your life from the inside out. It usually takes the form of postures and stretches combined with breathing and mental relaxation exercises. A yoga instructor takes you into poses and exercises, which is the most commonly known form of yoga. In yoga you will become more aware of your breath and the inner workings of your mind. Yoga can help you become healthier and happier by circulating vital life energy through all your body systems. The health benefits are multi-layered, going beyond just the external appearance. All the internal body systems are activated and improved as well. Your nervous system is soothed or energized as needed (through deep rhythmic breathing), your glandular system is balanced, creating hormonal harmony (from inversions), your cardio-vascular system is invigorated (as a result of the flowing postures), your digestive and metabolic systems are stimulated (from the internal heat produced), your elimination system is regulated (from the twisting poses), and lymphatic drainage is created (from the relaxation of breathing to finish). Every single cell in the body benefits.
Yoga…is designed to give you suppleness, natural grace, and vitality.
As modern as it is ancient, yoga promises and delivers relaxation in place of stress, courage not conflict. As simple Hatha yoga developed, Patanjali gave us the blueprint for ways to unite the body, mind and spirit. One of the most common ways, he tells us, is through asanas, or postures. This is Hatha yoga which uses the body to change the internal state of mind and consciousness. In addition to the generic Hatha yoga, you also find that yoga comes in many "brands". Yoga is not a religion, although many of its aspects are profoundly mystical.
Yoga is about discovering your essential and authentic self, not someone else's.
Yoga is a way of moving into stillness in order to experience the truth of who you are. Moving into stillness in order to evidence your true nature is a primary theme of yoga simply because everything about you – every thought, feeling, and emotion, as well as every aspect of your behaviour – is predicted on the way you feel about yourself. The way you feel about yourself determines how you think, what you do, and how you interact with the world. Stillness is a higher energy state than what we are used to. But once we give undivided attention with practice we can come into stillness and hence a higher energy state.
There are 2 levels of stillness:
1 - Learning to relax, become centred and mind focused.
2 - Living your daily life with the same new and growing inner certainty of who you really are.
A good Yoga instructor makes you feel good, it's relaxing, it's energising, it's strengthening - you feel better at the end of a session than at the start. The transition will be smooth and easy much of the time (even unnoticed) because it's so natural, but some of the time it may not be so comfortable - it may be hard and painful – but this is only because growth can hurt when you resist change and most of us prefer to resist change in an attempt to remain comfortable by maintaining the status quo. Yoga is a method by which to obtain control of one's latent powers. Yoga allows us to turn our thoughts inward, away from the objective world. The real benefits of yoga are from following and learning its fruits to get more out of life in every respect.
Part of getting older is the change that the body goes through - it tends to stiffen and tighten - we lose suppleness, strength and vitality. But with a Hatha yoga instructor you can dramatically reduce the effects of age. You can improve your balance, strength, flexibility and vitality. Yoga can take years off your face and years from your body, and add years to your life. Yoga helps the body's machine function smoothly, efficiently, at peak performance. It encourages your body to derive every last possible atom of nutritive valve from the food you ingest, to get every second of refreshment and rest from your sleep, to attain regularity, relief from minor aches and pains, the ability to sleep deep and wake feeling alive, the difference from feeling good to feeling terrific.