Change and Power of Yoga - Essay Example

Yoga Yoga Yoga has been practiced for more than 5,000 years now. Recently, a growing craze for yoga has increased due to its numerous benefits. One of the major benefits of yoga is the increase in flexibility. Most of the yoga positions act on the joints, muscles, and soft tissues of the body. Aside from flexibility, yoga improves one’s strength and endurance. With improved strength and flexibility, the posture also becomes better. Lung capacity becomes better because of the deep and mindful breathing practiced in yoga.

People who perform yoga exercises claim that they are calmer and they experience inner peace. Stress and mood swings are greatly reduced. They are also able to concentrate better. Yoga is also viewed as a good exercise for those with heart problems, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Chronic medical conditions such as asthma, back pain, insomnia, and arthritis have been said to improve with the practice of yoga. In short, yoga benefits both physical and psychological health (Hoffman, 2008).

Having known all these wonderful benefits of yoga, I was encouraged to make a yoga club with my friends the last summer. Since most of my friends go to the gym after work or school, it was difficult at first to convince them to try yoga. Most of them are enrolled in aerobic classes or weight loss programs conducted in the gym. I had to devise a plan to at least sit down with them and discuss the benefits of yoga. I believe that only when they hear of the benefits will they consider taking up yoga classes.

So I invited my friends, around 5 of them, to my house one Friday night and told them I will treat them to Korean food. I told them I have a friend who will make a presentation on one of the “hottest” topics nowadays. Curiosity got them and they all agreed to come. Of course, I did all the necessary research before that, including downloading a video on yoga which included a presentation of the simple yoga positions and the health benefits derived from them. I also invited a friend who was a yoga instructor.

Friday night came and to cut my story short, they were 100% convinced that indeed yoga is the exercise for them. Watching the video and hearing a yoga instructor talk about yoga really got them interested. The following week, my friends and I had our first yoga session under my friend's instructor. We conducted the session in my living room. The first session was great. Everybody had a wonderful time doing the simple yoga exercises first. I proposed that we have our yoga sessions twice a week and they all agreed to it.

After about six months of doing yoga, we all felt changes in our bodies. Even the stress due to work or school was greatly reduced. Overall wellness improved. In fact, one of my friends who used to call in sick at least once a week due to bouts of asthma had perfect attendance at her work in a month. I really feel so good because of the change which I instituted in our friend. In general, yoga has been proven to be beneficial to patients. As indicated by Delaune and Ladner (2006, 872), “Yoga rejuvenates, promotes longevity and self-realization, and speeds up the natural evolution of the person toward enlightenment”.

Everyone was very appreciative because of the benefits of yoga on them. Because of the noticeable changes in my acquaintances, other referrals from friends became interested in yoga too. They inquired about the requirements to join our yoga club. As for my friend, the strong bond among us also improved a lot. We are even closer now because of the newfound activity which we enjoy doing together. And speaking of new ideas, we are starting to adopt also a lifestyle change in our diets. Goodbye to those high-fat fast food “junkies”!

Time for another change! References Delaune, S.C. and Ladner, P.K. (2006). Fundamentals of Nursing: Standards and Practice. Delmar Learning, USA. Hoffman, M. (2008). The health benefits of Yoga. WebMD. Retrieved 23 March 2011.