Did you know that yoga is more than 5000 years old or more and is not just the act of moving your body into different poses. It is actually very beneficial to your mind, body and soul. There are actually 8 different parts (limbs) of yoga and moving your body (asanas) are only one. There is levels to this. The first limb, Yamas- focuses on how we treat others, our integrity and our ethical standards; kind of like the Golden Rule. There are five of them. I will tell you about those later. The second limb is Niyama which focuses on personal standards and self discipline. These 5 rules of behavior encourage us to be more mindful of the actions we take. That I will include in an upcoming post. The third limb is the one most of us learned about first. It is the poses also known as Asanas. Today yoga has become known for the physical posture but traditionally it was a way to train the body to sit for the other limbs I will share with you now. The fourth limb is Pranayama, also known as breathing or prana. “Breath is life.” Connecting our breath to our body and mind allows us to move away from our physical mind so much and into more intimate and subtle spaces within ourselves, our soul and our intuition. The fifth limb is pratyahara and focuses on us coming inward. It helps us learn get rid of the outside noise. This preps us for Meditation. Limb six is Dharana which means concentration. This is focusing on one thing, and learning to ignore all else. How many of us need this?! I do! Number 7 is Meditation. This is actually what many of us think we are doing but we are actually concentrating and trying to come inward. In this space of meditation the mind is stilled to a few thoughts or none at all. It may only last for a few moments, which may be all that we need. Keep practicing. Number 8 is Samadhi which means pure consciousness and coming to one with the divine.