Dating back over 5,000 years in India, yoga is a science of calming the mind. It is characterized by breathing practices that stimulate the different brain centers, mindfulness techniques that profoundly impact the body's physical responses, and controlled movements that bring about a deep sense of cognitive experience.

"Yoga is a wonderful form of exercise that provides benefits that walking or strength training do not provide." - Mayo Clinic, 28 December 2020

Traditional exercise activates the sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight response) which increases heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration. In fact, simply thinking about exercise raises heart rate (anticipatory heart rate response).

In contrast, the mindful breathing practice of yoga stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system (rest-and-digest response). As a result, yoga lowers heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration apart from improving digestion, quality of sleep, immune system, and stress levels.

"When you lift weights, your muscles get stronger and bigger. When you do yoga, your brain cells develop new connections and changes occur in the brain structure as well as function, resulting in improved cognitive skills ... Think of it as weightlifting for the brain." - Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School, 12 June 2021

Yoga strengthens parts of the brain that play a key role in memory, attention, awareness, thought, and language; older yoga practitioners showed less shrinkage of these parts of the brain. As for depression and anxiety in older adults, yoga and music were the most effective but yoga appeared to provide the longest-lasting effect.

"... serious injuries are rare if practiced under the guidance of certified instructors with avoidance of extreme positions ... This is important because the medical community in Western Countries remain concerned that yoga may not be appropriate for people with vulnerable joints." - Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center, 21 March 2018

According to Maharishi Patanjali, Yoga Sutras 500 BC, "sthira sukham aasanam," meaning that postures should be still and joyous (for yoga poses are in support of meditation).