What's That Got to Do With Yoga?

When people sign up for 3 free lessons from my online Basic Yoga Trainer, I also send then a whole series of emails with yoga tips and other interesting yoga information.

[ if you haven't signed up for your FREE YOGA LESSONS yet, click here ... ]

But in all those insightful 'yoga emails', I never even so much as ask students bend forward to touch their toes.  

What's going on? You thought yoga was all about stretching, right?
 

There's a very good point to all my correspondence. It is to help give a glimpse of a little bit bigger picture of yoga ... to step outside of the modern day 'yoga box' (or if you're just starting yoga, to keep you from getting trapped in it!).
 

My guru, Swami Gitananda taught one of the most comprehensive systems of yoga exercises and techniques that I have ever come across. I know the value of the yoga stretches and exercises first-hand, and their practise forms an integral part of all the yoga training programs I provide to my students too.
 

But Swamiji also taught me that if we perform these physical techniques outside of the broader yoga system - a system that includes a meaningful exploration of our 'inner selves' and an approach to healthy living on all levels - then we are not doing yoga!
 

Sure, we may be getting a good workout ... but yoga is much more than just a good workout.
 

When I started International Yogalayam, I knew that I didn't want to just create another yoga studio that taught yoga exercise classes to random people who came and went as they pleased.
 

I also knew that I didn't want to create another website filled with arbitrary yoga information and basic instructions for a whole bunch of different yoga techniques that people would peruse through like they were at a yoga shopping mall.
 

I wanted to show people what yoga was really all about! ... I just wasn't sure how I was going to do it.
 

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So I simply began writing ...
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Writing information about where yoga has come from, its cultural significance, and how it congealed into the image that surrounds yoga today. I started to put together some resources to help people to make sense of the rapidly expanding number of ideas about this ancient word 'yoga', and tried to put them into an accurate context with the yoga tradition itself.
 

I began to write rather off-beat yoga articles too, taking a look at contemporary political and social issues from a 'yogic' perspective.
 

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And to my delight, people started to take notice!
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Those early efforts eventually led to the formation of International Yogalayam (www.theyogatutor.com), what many have called the “first real online school of yoga,” where I now have basic and comprehensive yoga distance education programs for various levels of yoga experience .

And those off-beat articles eventually gave rise to our FREE monthly Yoga eZine, called The Yoga News, which several readers have referred to as a “breath of fresh yoga air!”
 

Some time back I even published an article called “What’s that Got to Do With Yoga?” which talks about why I started The Yoga News, and where I get all those original ideas from ;O)
 

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OK, so why should you care about all that?
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Because if you don't then you're probably gonna end up wasting a whole bunch of your valuable time!
 

I know how great a yoga class can make you feel, especially in the beginning. But the sad fact of the matter is, less than 50% of people who try yoga classes stick with it for more than a month ... and less than 15% are still going regularly after 6 months! (about the same numbers as for gym memberships, by the way.)
 

Why?
 

Well it's not because the yoga exercises stopped being good for you. It's simply human nature to get bored with any type of activity.
 

So if you're approaching yoga primarily as a form of exercise (even if that exercise helps to calm your nerves and decrease your stress too), then you'll need a rare resolve to keep at it for any real length of time.
 

Compare that, though, with those who have had a more comprehensive education in yoga ... those who have come to know yoga 'off the mat too' so to speak ... folks like your yoga teacher perhaps, who have been doing yoga for years and years and just ooze yoga from every pore of their being!
 

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Ok, you don't have to ooze ...
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But you do need to take a more complete approach to learning yoga if you don't want to end up like 85% of the people out there who got frustrated or bored and eventually pasted yoga into their scrap-book of 'been there, done that' things.
 

If you're the type of person who really does want to get the most out of your yoga efforts (and I'm sure you are!), then I encourage you to make a serious search for a teacher who guides their students, step-by-step, through ALL of yoga, both on and off the yoga mat, so to speak.

If learning yoga online is up your alley, then check out my online yoga training programs here.

Why not start with 3 FREE YOGA LESSONS from my Basic Yoga Trainer course? No risk, and nothing to lose!

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Sorting out what's what in yoga can be confusing, I know ...
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Here’s a few short articles that you might find helpful:
 

Yoga Poses - moving beyond the stretch

Making Sense of Yoga in the Modern World