Gale Tobin on Why Yoga is Good for the Body and Soul

People are always asking Gale Tobin what made her decide to do yoga. The answer can be quite simple and complicated at the same time. The simple answer is always the most commonly given answer; to live a healthy and toxic-free life. But of course, there is always more to yoga than just keeping yourself fit and healthy.  

Yoga is also a spiritual journey. Whenever Gale Tobin does her daily yoga exercises, she always feels a spiritual connection during the whole exercise. Meditating while doing yoga will do wonders for your body because the act of meditation helps in relieving your body of stress and even removing toxins too. Meditating while stretching your muscles during the whole yoga exercise helps in repairing damaged muscle tissue while keeping your mind perfectly calm.  

 

Yoga also enhances flexibility, improves range of motion, and prevents soreness. If you’ve noticed the difference with any other exercise, it’s only with yoga where there is a sense of calm and serenity while doing the poses. This is probably because of the spiritual connection yoga has with the civilization that started it all.  

 

The Indus-Sarasvati civilization in Northern India began the first yoga session over 5,000 years ago. It wasn’t even called yoga back then, to be precise. It was a form of spiritual worship where priests usually follow the regimen passed on from generation after generation. 

 

And back then, they weren’t doing their poses because they had problems with flexibility or they had a few extra yoga pants. The Northern Indians used yoga for ceremonial purposes. These ceremonies were vague in nature, but according to researchers, the priests used yoga as a form of worship towards their gods. The poses also serve as a form of faith towards the said deities. Gayle Tobin somehow believed that these ancient priests not just practiced yoga, but ascetic practices too, such as not consuming animals. Unfortunately, there is no longer any way to prove these claims because any proof or reminder of how the Indus-Sarasvati civilization used yoga back then was destroyed.  

 

While records may have been destroyed, the positive effects that yoga has on both the body and soul remain. The actual practice of yoga was recorded by the Brahmans and the Rishis, mystic seers who practiced yoga to commune with the spiritual world.  

 

Even until today, yoga continues to help anyone who is in need of daily activity that will not just help in strengthening the body through flexibility, but through meditation too. Gale Tobin believes that the world can be a better place if everyone is actually into yoga! 

Originally published at https://galetobin.com on November 23, 2021.