Yoga: ancient and enormously successful

Yoga: ancient and enormously successful
Yoga is no longer just a trendy sport, but clearly a very powerful movement. It is often referred to as a lifestyle. Incidentally, it is sometimes called "the" or "the" yoga, although the latter is used less frequently.
If you enter the term "yoga" into search engines, more than 350 million results appear in half a second. These include addresses such as the Federal Association of Yoga Teachers in Germany (BDY), adult education center websites and private trainers with relevant courses, as well as a wealth of newspaper pages and statistics, text and image information, shop offers , and much more. If we look at Amazon's book catalog, we find more than 22,000 products there alone.

Latest trend...

One might therefore come to the conclusion that yoga is a cutting-edge invention of our time and that almost everyone - especially women - is apparently jumping on the bandwagon. This is supported by statistical data showing that currently over three million Germans practice yoga in some form (80 percent are women); even more have done so before, and more could imagine trying it again soon. After classic sports such as hiking, cycling, and swimming, yoga is already in fifth place. It is primarily practiced by people between 30 and 50 years old - a typical age when the turbulent youthful phase is followed by a phase of self-reflection. We pursue careers, get married, and have children. But where do we fit in as individuals? These are the age-old questions of meaning that humanity faces, and yoga can contribute to them.
The fact that we prefer Hatha Yoga , however, also demonstrates how we predominantly perceive yoga today: as a sport. There are now a wealth of yoga movements, such as the quite popular Power Yoga or Yogalates (a blend of yoga and Pilates), that have embraced this trend. Famous yoga teachers are making a name for themselves and writing books; however, those who follow them also follow a particular school.
So, even after 5,000 years, its development is far from complete. Unlike other sports, yoga has a reputation for being particularly important for the psyche; others see it primarily as a contemporary lifestyle, as mentioned above. Interestingly, yoga also has an elite appeal; many executives use it to improve their concentration and stay physically fit. Thus, we see that yoga serves many needs, not just purely athletic ones, and cannot be explained in one sentence.
By the way, yoga is an important economic factor. US experts already rank it among the ten most important growth industries.

... ancient system

This ambivalence that yoga is more than just exercise is no coincidence. If we look for historical roots, we come across the Upanishads, a collection of philosophical, instructive texts, the oldest parts of which are around 2,700 years old. Even here, breathing exercises are mentioned. The Upanishads were written down between 700 and 200 BC and contain the most important yoga texts to date. However, pictorial representations attest to the fact that yoga is much older, around 5,000 years old. It can be assumed that yoga is probably the oldest exercise system in the world. Even our preferred system today, Hatha Yoga, was written down centuries ago: The Hathapradipika was written in the 14th century by Svatmarama, about whom nothing else is known.
Hatha Yoga involves physical exercises (asanas), breathing exercises (pranayama) , and meditation . A good yoga teacher will always combine all of these elements. Often, however, we also practice only asanas, thus emphasizing the athletic aspect of yoga. While we automatically practice even breathing under stress, there are also specific breathing exercises that immediately lift us out of stressful situations and bring us back to ourselves. This is not far removed from the old folk wisdom that whenever we feel upset, we should take a deep breath. Just try it out and concentrate solely on breathing in and out when you're under stress. You'll immediately feel calmer. Afterwards, you can slowly count to ten and then tackle the problem again.
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