What is yoga? 
Yoga developed thousands of years ago in India and is actually a spiritual path aimed at bring complete harmony and balance of mind, body and spirit. The essence of yoga is in stillness. The sage Patanjali said that yoga is about quietening the thought-waves of the mind. Patanjali also devised the eight limbs of yoga - also known as astanga yoga. These include a set of moral restraints and observations and the yoga postures, which is what most people in the West think yoga is about. The eight limbs also include Pranayama or yoga breathing - these include ancient techniques, which can bring about great energy changes within the body and mind. The whole purpose of the eight limbs of yoga is to bring about stillness in order that we can meditate and eventually find union - that is our real self, beyond the ego, which becomes aligned with the whole universe.
Why Will Yoga benefit me? In our busy consumer society most of us do not pay enough attention to how we breathe, how we relax and how we keep mobile and flexible Even if you are very tired all of this is very important to your health and well-being. For example, many people in the West hyperventilate. This is because we get in to poor breathing habits. When we are stressed, the body takes itself into the 'flight and fight mode' and we start to breathe rapidly, from our upper chest. This is fine if there is an emergency, but the after the stress has passed, the autonomic nervous system should take us back to healthy breathing - that is breathing which involves the diaphragm, so that there is a correct exchange of gasses in the body. The trouble with chronic stress is that we don't automatically do this - so we continue to breathe too fast, and from the upper chest. Stop now, take one hand to the centre of your upper chest and one to just above the navel and note how you are breathing. Is the breath fast? If you are mainly using your upper chest to breathe, then you may suffer from fatigue, stress, insomnia and aches and pains. So the first step to health is in correct breathing - something yoga will help you with.
In yoga, we start with a relaxation posture - also known in Sanskrit as savasana. This is said to be the most important - and the hardest posture to do. It is only when we relax properly that we can start to heal. Being, not doing is emphasised in yoga, although relaxation is something we often feel guilty about and don't give ourselves space to make time for.
Stretching postures or asanas are all designed to improve blood flow, mobility, stamina, muscle tone, flexibility and energy. Using gentle postures, we can gently encourage the body back to health. There is no competition in yoga, everything is done with the body, not against it.
Meditation
Meditation helps to calm and focus the mind. It helps us to be calm and centred and more in control of our mind - so that we are not swept along by our thoughts and emotions and can bring peace and a general sense of purpose and meaning to life. Most of us experience our thoughts as a continual chatter inside our head - speeding between the past and the 'what might be' future. The aim of meditation is to calm and still the mind, and bring us back in to the present. This quietens the brain down so that we go in to what is called the 'alpha' state where the brain-waves are slower. This greatly relieves stress. Information overload is then reduced, giving us space just to be. Meditation slows down the production of stress-related chemicals and the heart rate and can bring about a feeling of well being, as well as an increase in energy. There is a chapter on how to mediate in Fiona's book 'Beat Fatigue with Yoga' and also 'Endless Energy' (Piatkus books currently out of print). Fiona also runs workshops and one-to one-sessions on how to meditate using breath, mantra, mandala and other tools.
Please contact Fiona for further information. 
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