Yoga Lessons Without Stretches... ?
[Yoga eCourse Instalment #7]

This is the seventh yoga lesson you’ve gotten from me in as many days, and I haven’t even asked you to bend forward and touch your toes yet.

What’s going on? ...

There was a very good point to this 7-day Yoga eCourse. It was to help you glimpse a little bit bigger picture of yoga … to step outside of the modern day “yoga box” (or if you’re just starting yoga, to keep you from getting trapped in it!).

My guru, Swami Gitananda taught one of the most comprehensive systems of yoga exercises and techniques that I have ever come across. I know the value of the yoga exercises first-hand, and their practice forms an integral part of all the yoga training programs I provide to my students.

But Swamiji also taught me that if we perform them outside of the broader yogic system, as system that includes a meaningful exploration of our “inner selves” and an approach to healthy living on all levels, then we are not doing yoga!

Sure, we may be getting a good workout … but yoga lessons involve much more than just a good workout.

When I started International Yogalayam, I knew that I didn’t want to just create another yoga studio that taught yoga exercise classes to random people who came and went as they pleased.

I also knew that I didn’t want to create another website filled with arbitrary yoga information and basic instructions for different yoga techniques for people to peruse through like they were at a yoga shopping mall.

I wanted to show people what yoga was really all about! … I just wasn’t sure how I was going to do it.

So I simply began writing …

Writing information about where yoga has come from, its cultural significance, and how it arrived into the image that surrounds yoga today. 

I started to put together some resources to help people to make sense of the rapidly expanding number of ideas about this ancient word “yoga”, and put them into an accurate context with the "yoga tradition" itself.

I began to write rather “off-beat” articles too, taking a look at contemporary political and social issues from a “yogic perspective.” 

And to my delight, people started to take notice! 

Those early efforts eventually led to the formation of International Yogalayam, what many have called the “first real online school of yoga,” where I now have basic and comprehensive yoga distance education programs for various levels of yoga experience.

And those off-beat articles eventually gave rise to our FREE monthly Yoga eZine, called The Yoga News, which several readers have enthusiastically referred to as a “breath of fresh yoga air!” 

Some time back I even published an article called “What’s that Got to Do With Yoga?” which talks about why I started The Yoga News, and where I get all those original ideas from ;O)

OK, so why should you care about all that?

Because if you don’t then you’re probably gonna end up wasting a whole bunch of your valuable time with yoga lessons that don't teach you yoga!

I know how great a yoga class can make you feel, especially in the beginning. But the sad fact is that less than 50% of people who try yoga classes stick with it for more than a month 

… and less than 15% are still going to those yoga classes regularly after 6 months! (about the same numbers as for gym memberships).

Why?

Well it’s not because the exercises stopped being good for you. It’s simply human nature to get bored with any type of activity.

So if you’re approaching yoga primarily as a form of exercise (even if that exercise helps to calm your nerves and decrease your stress too), then you’ll need a rare resolve to keep at it for any real length of time.

Compare that, though, with those who have had a more comprehensive education in yoga … those who have come to know yoga “off the mat too” so to speak … folks like your yoga teacher perhaps, who have been doing yoga for years and years and just ooze yoga from every pore of their being!

Ok, you don’t have to ooze …

But you do need to take a more complete approach to learning yoga if you don’t want to end up like 85% of the people out there who got frustrated and bored with the typical modern-day yoga lessons and eventually pasted yoga into their scrap-book of “been there, done that” things.

If you’re the type of person who really does want to get the most out of your yoga efforts (and I’m sure you are!), then I’ve got a couple of really great programs that can help you to achieve that goal. 

If you want to check them out, then visit our Online Yoga Training Center ...

Here’s a couple articles that you’ll also find helpful too:

A Yoga Reality Check ...

Ashtanga Yoga: How Strong Are Your 8 Limbs?

May your life be blessed with health, happiness, and abundance!


Yours in Yoga,

The Basic Yoga Trainer
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• Yoga lessons that will teach you how to practice yoga on your own, in a STEP BY STEP way.
• The 21-lesson Basic Yoga Trainer will give you the expert guidance you need to get onto a healthy yoga track … and stay on it!

Learn more about The Yoga Tutor here …

"These yoga lessons present the many aspects of Yoga in an interesting and informative way … As an experienced teacher, I enjoyed working through it verymuch. Thank you! It was refreshing!"

~ Carole Tovell, UK