What causes these changes in our body and mind which allow us to experience the benefits of yoga for stress and anxiety? How are the asanas in yoga different to the movement in other forms of exercise? After all, running or playing tennis are also associated with many health benefits. But these activities usually aren’t accompanied by the same sense of well-being as yoga. It seems that the focus of yoga on improving through both physical and mental practices incorporates more mindful elements that are absent in traditional forms of exercise. Indeed it is this mindfulness might make the difference between just going for a run and practicing yoga.

In my years of teaching yoga and mindfulness meditation, I hear from students, “I can’t practice mindfulness meditation. My mind is too busy.” This has given me pause to ask myself, why is it that people believe that to be mindful or to meditate, the mind must be immediately or even often, calm? This may be perhaps because we see photos of meditators looking peaceful and calm. But is this really what’s occurring when we first sit down to meditate?