WHAT IS YOGA?
Yoga is an ancient art and science that has been practiced for thousands of years, yet offers both practical and profound benefits for the modern world. In English the Sanskrit word “yoga” means "yoke," which in turn means union, joining, and linking together. In the Context of the Hatha practice, the initial understanding of the term Yoga is embodied in a technical process designed to clarify the relationship between body, mind, emotion, breath, and intention in a series of sensitive, honest and open actions. This initial process reinforces the tendency for practitioners to notice the relationship between these apparently disparate parts of our being.

However, at its core level, the training system fosters an understanding that manifests as an ecstatic surrender to the actuality of life is it presents itself to us. In other words, when we begin, we usually assume that our efforts will join the apparently separate aspects of our being. But it turns out that these apparent parts were always already whole in the deepest sense, and that our efforts have served to clarify our perceptions of what is actually happening all of the time. Reality is one, and the training process flowers as the clear and consistent understanding that this is the case. The result is a state of harmony, grace and clarity allowing for greater health and well-being. Yoga is not a religion, nor is it just a form of exercise. It is an integrated system of wellness that uses breathing techniques, postures and meditation to bring about total health.

What are the Benefits of Yoga?

Yoga reduces stress and tension, builds and tones muscles, realigns the entire body for better posture, improves circulation and digestion, teaches correct breathing, strengthens the immune system, enhances concentration and focus, enhances creativity.

YOGA AND RELATIONSHIP
a personal note by Mathew Krepps about Dynamic Yoga

Anyone who seriously practices yoga for long periods of time knows what it means to search for something. By the time one finds yoga, he or she has usually looked in many places. Though searching for different reasons, there is nevertheless something that is wanted, something that is hoped the practice will give us. It is/was no different for me.
A few years ago another yoga teacher turned me on to Dynamic Yoga, a book by Godfrey Devereux. The book was really good. It was better than good; it made me feel lousy. I had been practicing and studying yoga for several years by the time I read it. It ignited a sneaking suspicion that all of my sweat and study had only scratched the surface of a significant experience that was somehow just beyond my reach. I began to think that I didn’t know anything about yoga. Something told me that Godfrey might - - it was his book after all. I knew that I had to study with him. Godfrey was teaching then in Spain and leaving my wife and children at home in Arkansas, I went to his Teacher training. We practiced every day in a small Geodesic Dome - - long sessions, sometimes three hours or more, often in the cold. After practice we sat on the floor and studied Godfrey’s translation of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. Having majored in philosophy in college, I knew about the Sutra’s promise of peace and freedom, and about its claim that one can escape the trappings of human suffering and attain spiritual realization through the correct practice of Yoga. I took every opportunity to ask Godfrey about some of its finer details: “Is consciousness active or passive?” “How can the human body, which is limited by time and space, be an expression of infinite wisdom?” Godfrey recognized my zeal, and would always listen. But usually he would smile and just say, “it doesn’t matter.” I was learning a lot, but still I had no answer to my question.
I very distinctly remember a day in late October: it was so cold I could see the steam of my breath on the concrete floor in the posture called downward dog. We were working toward a another posture called Adho-mukha -vrikshasana, which means downward - facing – tree or handstand. It is done by jumping the feet and the hips up into the air, straightening the legs, and carefully balancing everything over the hands in a straight line. It is very beautiful, and very difficult. I had practiced it for some time, and had gained some proficiency. On that day it turned out that I was the only one in class who was able to perform it without help. I had jumped up and caught my balance, and Godfrey stopped everyone. He said, “Come on, let’s watch Matthew, he’s got it.” After completing the pose, and my compatriots had given a short round of congratulations, Godfrey said, “How does your wife feel about your handstand?”
I didn’t quite know what to say.
He then said, “In all that time that you spent learning to balance on your hands, could you ever have helped her with your baby?”
I said, “well. . . I suppose I could have . . . “
Then he said, “Are you enlightened?”
In a rare and fleeting moment of wisdom, I remained silent.
Godfrey then turned and went back to his place. After he sat down, he looked at me, smiled, and said “big *$:*!@& deal!”
My teacher had not been aggressive or derogatory, and I didn’t feel the slightest bit of embarrassment. I was rather very focused in the situation, my mind had slowed down and I was thinking only of my wife and family, all of my years of hard practice, and how I had left them on the other side of the globe in search of something I hoped yoga would give me. Godfrey had answered my question, not by telling me what yoga was, but by telling me where to look if I really wanted to know. I learned to look for yoga in the context of my relationships.
It turns out that most of what we did on that cold concrete floor was talk about the nature of human relationship: relationship with ourselves, with our bodies, the world around us, and with each other. I learned that the techniques of Yoga practice are many, but that mastery of the techniques alone will not free us. To help in that regard, all technique must be practiced within an attitude that recognizes the primacy of honest, clear, and open relationship.
The classical system of Yoga outlines the characteristics of a practice which is based around such an attitude. These characteristics form the context within which the multitude of techniques must be applied. They are known as the Yamas - - the five attitudes, and the Niyamas - - the five internal orientations. Within the context of Yama and Niyama, the techniques of Yoga practice become lenses which focus our attention on the actual nature of our attitudes towards ourselves and others. According to Godfrey, without Yama and Niyama as our guides, there is no Yoga. Om shanti . . .