Yoga is a phys­i­cal, men­tal, and spir­i­tual dis­ci­pline, orig­i­nat­ing in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the per­son prac­tic­ing yoga, is the attain­ment of a state of per­fect spir­i­tual insight and tran­quil­ity. The word is asso­ci­ated with med­i­ta­tive prac­tices in Hin­duism, Jain­ism and Bud­dhism. Although most peo­ple iden­tify Yoga with the sexy poses, Yoga purists define Yoga as using the breath to still the fluc­tu­at­ing mind. The poses (Asanas)  are to help train the phys­i­cal body how to relax and sit for long peri­ods of time in Meditation.

Zen­hal­ing doing Yoga Inver­sions at top of Pikes Peak

The San­skrit word yoga has the lit­eral mean­ing of “yoke”, from a root yuj mean­ing to join, to unite, or to attach. As a term for a sys­tem of abstract med­i­ta­tion or men­tal abstrac­tion it was intro­duced by Patañ­jali in the 2nd cen­tury BC. Some­one who prac­tices yoga or fol­lows the yoga phi­los­o­phy with a high level of com­mit­ment is called a yogi or yogini.

“The Yogi’s life is not mea­sured by the num­ber of his days but by his num­ber of breaths.”

Yoga Bal­ance Train­ing on Fallen Tree at Val­ley Forge Park

Yoga, Tai Chi and Kung Fu poses are com­bined to cre­ate the Move­ments used while train­ing with the Z-STICK.

BKS Iyengar’s “Light on Life” book is con­sid­ered the mod­ern day “Yogic Train­ing Bible”. Check him out back in the day!