Osteoblasts (bone building cells) are produced when muscles consistently hug against bone. the stability required for yoga asana causes muscle to squeeze against bone all over your body… building strong bone beneath.

Joint congruency means a joint moves with even pressure across the articular surfaces keeping the joint healthy. This is only possible when the joint is properly aligned as it moves. Good yoga teaches optimal alignment of joint and core-based movement to heal joints and keep them pain-free and mobile.

Nearly 80% of toxins in our bodies are released through exhales. Most adults in the western world breathe at 30% capacity. Our short shallow breathing cheats us of the natural detox process we need to keep the immune system strong. Proper yoga emphasizes deep breathing as the number one priority. As you learn to consciously breathe deep and slow on the mat, your daily breath patterns will expand helping you purify your body with every breath.

Inflammation is a natural protective response to an injured area. Internal injuries (joint surfaces or internal organs) can cause great discomfort and limitation. The inflammatory response will continue until the body gets a clear signal the healing is underway. Yoga gives this calming signal be soothing the nervous system and helping move toxins and bits of scar tissue away from the injured area.

Most of what we worry about never happens. and the parts of our life we can make better are cheated of our attention and energy when we spend time worrying about things we cannot control. on top of that, chronic worry has a direct affect on our hormones and the holding patterns in our musculature. Yoga teaches us to consciously release the agitations of the mind to allow the body to rebalance and the mind to clear. Eventually we live with a clear calm mind.

Yoga philosophy teaches that every problem come “pre-packaged” with its own solutions. It is our habit of giving the problem more energy than the solution that keeps us from creating solutions quickly and moving on. By taking us into “problems” (tight or weak places) and offering the “solution” deep breathing, clear intention and persistent practice, we witness our power to transmute problems into solutions and growth. This meta pattern gels into our bones and becomes part of the way we approach life.

The body never lies and if we are willing to listen it will tell us the truth of who we are and show us the shadowy patterns that hide that truth. often we are very good at deceiving ourselves about the current conditions of our lives. We slip around ideas of behaving virtuously and choosing nobly often falling into nasty habits of self-sabotage. By visiting the asanas regularly we are forced to experience the physical manifestation of our patterns and we find the only way to make lasting change is to see things as they are and systematically unravel them and rebuild sustainable patterns. We witness the body completely transforming with these “ethics and right priorities” and naturally they become part of our life choices off the mat.

Many of the asanas are designed specifically to wring out internal organs and endocrine glands. This “rinse and soak” effect of gently squeezing a gland then releasing removes stagnant energy and chemicals and allows a flood of fresh blood through the gland. Our blood is filled with the neurotransmitters and other elements necessary to regulate hormonal release so we want fresh blood flowing through these glands.