The word "yoga" has many meanings. It can mean “balance," "unity," or "joining." Broadly speaking, yoga is a combination of mental and physical practices. Doing yoga is supposed to help people achieve true understanding. It is unclear when people first began to practice yoga, but the concept of yoga comes from the area of India and Pakistan and may be over 5,000 years old. There are many different branches of yoga. We'll focus here on some basic principles they all share.

The most important part of yoga is breathing. Yoga starts with the correct breath. Breathing slowly and deeply through the nose is the beginning of yoga practice. Later, people practicing yoga may learn more difficult breathing exercises. Once your breathing is correct, you can move on to doing poses.

The poses, or asanas, are designed to create strength and flexibility in the body. This relates back to the idea of balance. As you become more used to yoga, you can do more challenging poses. Many people do yoga simply for the exercise. Yoga does indeed help people become fit and healthy. But the idea is never to compete, only to do your best and improve at your own rate.

The difficult poses also help people learn grace under pressure. This means that though the body is struggling, the mind is calm. During a yoga practice, your mind is supposed to be clear and empty. You think about nothing but the pose. In this way, yoga helps relieve mental stress.

The ancient tradition of yoga has spread to every continent and has been adapted to many different cultures. If you walk through your town, you'll probably be able to spot a yoga studio. Care to try it?

「瑜伽」這個詞有許多涵義，它可以指平衡、合一，或是結合。廣泛來說，瑜伽就是身心靈結合的修習，旨在幫助人們尋得真知。人們最先開始修習瑜伽的時間不明，然而瑜伽的理念源自印度和巴基斯坦，可能已經盛行了超過5000 年之久。瑜伽有很多分支，我們就專門來討論所有分支共有的基本原理吧。

瑜伽最重要的部分就是呼吸。學習瑜伽的第一個步驟就是正確地呼吸。緩慢且深長地透過鼻子吸吐是學瑜伽的開始。之後，修習瑜伽的人就會學到更難的呼吸訓練。一旦你的呼吸方法正確就可以開始做瑜伽動作。

瑜伽動作旨在增強身體的力量和柔軟度，這又回歸到平衡的概念。當你開始習慣瑜伽後，就可以開始做一些較有挑戰性的動作。很多人練瑜伽只是為了運動。瑜伽確實可以健身，但重點是絕對不要比較，只要盡力並依自己的步調來進步即可。

困難的姿勢也幫助人們在壓力下學習優雅。這也就是說，雖然身體在使勁，心靈卻很平靜。在練習瑜伽時，你應該將心靈清靜放空，什麼都不想，只想著瑜伽動作。如此一來，瑜伽就可幫助你放鬆心理壓力。

古老的瑜伽傳統已經流行到世界各地，並被許多不同文化所接受。你走在街上的時候大概就會看到瑜伽中心。想要試試嗎？