At Yoke Wellness in Pasadena, Dr. Herzog teaches yoga (private and semi-private classes) and can provide instruction at your home or office. He received his Yoga Teacher Certification from the White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, where he studied with Ganga White and Tracey Rich. Yoga is the ancient practice of creating balance between mind and body, strength and flexibility, and stillness and movement. By practicing physical poses or asanas, you can have the physical benefits of proper alignment. Yoga can enhance your muscle, bone and joint strength and flexibility; it can also improve circulation and cardio-vascular health and strengthen your immune system. It enables you to be more connected to your physical body and your vitality. In addition to the physical aspects, yoga provides mental and psychological benefits as well. Yoga can help you reduce stress and mental tension; it can help you enhance emotional balance and improve attention and concentration, and increase overall brain activity to your benefit. It can help you gain insight into yourself by enhancing self-awareness and self-attunement connecting you to all that you are. Many people think that they need to be physically flexible to practice yoga. The truth is that everyone can do yoga, as Ganga White says, “every body is a yoga body” (White, 2007). You need not be able to get yourself into pretzel-shaped poses that you have seen in magazines or at a yoga class to gain the benefits of yoga. I teach yoga in a way that makes it accessible to everyone, even those with major physical challenges, catering instruction to the needs of the individual. With the principles of proper alignment, I help people cultivate a yoga practice that honors their strengths and limitations while allowing them to reap the physical and mental benefits it provides. The beauty of yoga and the goal of yoga, if anything, is to be exactly where you are rather than pushing yourself to do anything you are not meant to do or be anything that you are not. Some believe that yoga is not rigorous enough to provide a good “work-out”. To the contrary, yoga can be quite vigorous and intense and provide a complete physical exercise regimen. Practiced with proper alignment, yoga can strengthen your entire body, prevent injury and counter the effects of aging over time. It all depends on the needs and interest of the individual regarding how active or passive the yoga practice is. It may or may not be supplemented by other types of physical exercise. White, G. (2007). Yoga beyond belief: Insights to awaken and deepen your practice. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.