About Dynamic Yoga

inquire into the possibilities...

What is yoga?

One sunny summer day some 15 years ago, after running a few miles around the track in my hometown of hastings-on-hudson, new york, I was sitting on the grass stretching. A woman walked up to me and asked, "Are you doing yoga?" I had heard about yoga, but wasn't really sure what it was. Too embarrassed to say so, I just assumed it was some esoteric word someone came up with for the simple act of stretching; how silly to call it anything else I thought. "No," I replied, "I'm just stretching."  

While I was correct to say no - because I wasn't doing yoga - to think that yoga is stretching could not be further from the truth. Although regular yoga practice generally leads to a more limber body, this is not the result of stretching. The increased flexibility that derives from yoga practice is a result of relaxation, i.e. the absence of tension. Tension causes our muscles to tighten and contract, relaxation enables our muscles to soften and lengthen. Through yoga practice we learn to relax and enjoy all the benefits that deep relaxation brings, including increased flexibility.  

Yoga is a state of being, not an act of doing. It is a spiritual path that is believed to have originated in southern India over 6,000 years ago to enable people reach higher consciousness, to transcend the subject-object split, and bring them to the realization of their true nature.