Yoga is not only an outlet for the body but also the mind. During your practice, you escape all the nuisances of the world and focus on yourself. You go on a physical and mental journey— a journey full of benefits that extend far beyond flexibility.

That journey starts with you being present.

This is a time to put all of your thoughts and worries on pause. Instead, you focus on being in the moment. Often, you don't realize that you're wired with wondrous thoughts until you take a yoga class.

The goal of yoga is to create a wholeness, a union of the breath and the body. If you've ever been to a yoga practice, you'll know that the instructor places a heavy importance on breathing. Weird, right? Why not just worry about form? They do worry about form but, turns out, breathing goes a long way in yoga.

Breathing allows you to focus on welcoming energy throughout the body. You concentrate and feel the air being transported to all of your muscles. With your breathing, you are allowing a sense of fluidity to overcome you. This allows your workout to be cleansing.

Yoga is a great tool for strengthening, trimming, and toning the body to get it to a healthy and balanced state. There are different practices that target certain areas of the body or mind. For instance, there is yoga that is geared towards depression, anxiety, and even stress. I know that when I'm having a rough day with my anxiety and I need to get out of my head, I do some yoga. It's an escape from all my worries, anxious feelings, and negative thoughts.

Yoga is an outlet for creating clarity and improving your well-being.

With yoga benefitting your body and mind, the terminology used gives you an appreciation for its culture. Yoga has some interesting terminology you will hear throughout your practices. A common word with a plethora of puns is namaste. Yet, namaste here and tell you how deep the meaning of that word can be.

Namaste is a Hindi and Nepali word that is normally used in greetings and salutations— hence why you hear it at the end of your practice. The word is typically said with the hand gesture of having both palms pressed together in front of one's heart with their head bowed.

The word can be translated to multiple meanings:

"I honor the place in you which is of love, truth, light, and peace."

"I bow to the divine in you."

"I honor the sacredness and equality in us all."

Beautiful, isn't it? I feel like it should be said more often in our society. Especially with all of the dark events occurring in our world. Such a small and simple word with such a powerful meaning can go a long way.

Clearly, yoga is much more than stretching. It's an outlet that serves to fulfill your exercise desires as well as your mental health needs, all while exposing you to a different culture.

Try it yourself. Your mind and body will thank you.

-Namaste.