Self-care is the practice of sufficiently prioritizing what helps you feel well. As one option for Self-care, yoga offers great benefits for both body and soul. In fact, the word yoga is Sanskrit for "union" or "yoking", which signifies the intention to unite body and spirit, lower Self and higher, earth and the eternal. A whole lot of good comes from bridging that gap, not only physical fitness and flexibility.

Yoga lubricates all the joints in the skeletal system, especially the spine. It stretches every band and tendon in the muscular system. It helps those systems work in harmony and balance, extending their longevity and service. It also fortifies the immune system and improves respiration and concentration. For its positive affects on all these systems at once, yoga is powerfully holistic.

Many people who try yoga notice immediately after the very first session that they feel better somehow, that their mood is improved, that ease and well-being are suddenly more available for the taking, that stretching into tight places in the body has created a corresponding sense of limberness and freedom in the personality. These discoveries typically multiply and extend with ongoing sessions.

The extensive benefits of regular yoga include:

• Stress reduction
• Calmness of mind
• Sense of well-being
• Kindness to .
• Trust and security
• Improved respiration, energy and vitality
• Increased flexibility
• Increased muscle strength and tone
• Stable balanced metabolism
• Weight reduction
• Cardio and circulatory health
• Improved athletic performance
• Protection from injury

• self-care: why do it
• self-care: meditation
• self-care: reflection
• self-care: exercise
• self-care: rest
• self-care: yoga
• self-care: altars
• self-care: play
• self-care: nature