Why Do Yoga?

Recently we asked our local Yosemite area yoga teachers to answer this question - why do you do yoga? The answers were as diverse and deep as our teachers. Here are just a few of the responses.I practice yoga to bust through the crust of practiced faces and protective layers.I practice yoga to remember what I already know.I practice yoga to rinse life's dusty road off my spirit.I practice yoga to quench my heart's thirst.I practice yoga to sweat.Yoga and meditation as part of my daily routine grounds me, reminds me of who I am, what my challenges are, what my gifts are. Yoga reminds me of beauty, every moment, even in the stormiest of times. Who I am in my practice is who I am in my life. There is not a separation.Yoga is one of the greatest gifts and tools I am a learner of this lifetime.I do yoga to accept myself as I am, each day, in all my glorious and absurd imperfectionsI do yoga to smooth the rough edges my breath and bodyI do yoga because it is cheaper and probably more healthy than Ritalin for the hyperactive little boy that still lives inside meI do yoga because my mom watched “Lilias, Yoga, and You” on PBS in 1976I do yoga because I really dislike jogging, and yet sometimes I still need to release energyI do yoga as an act of non-violent revolutionI do yoga to accelerate our collective human evolutionI do yoga because it just feels so goodsometimes I have no idea why I do yogasometimes I do yoga just becausemost of the time I do yoga because it inspires me love the world many times I do yoga because through yoga, I learn to love myselfMy yoga is the birdsong of shared voices, the quickening of collective powerit is vast and great, where I obsess and obscureit is refined and empowering, when I am opinionated and personalit shines without limit, as long as I'm in that focusand focusing on you, me and all we will be.And you? Why do you do yoga?