International Yoga Day takes place Saturday and Warren County’s Isha Institute of Inner Sciences will celebrate with a series of free yoga events.
Isha’s Tim Ross said yoga and meditation has been around for thousands of years. Ross said both can help people alter their inner chemistry and transform themselves. Ross said the Western Hemisphere gives yoga a bad rap, but it can have physical, spiritual, and mental benefits.
“I think that the time has come where, in the age of digital media and technology, which is very good and positive if we use it correctly, people are wanting to turn to something to turn inward and cultivate an inner sense of well being,” Ross said. “And yoga offers that possibility to everybody.”
Ross said over 4,000 people are expected to attend Saturday’s International Yoga Day festivities. Ross said there will be guided hikes, vegetarian meals, live music, and of course, yoga and meditation.
Ross said yoga is for all ages, and it can be modified to meet a participant’s specific needs. Ross said participants do not need to be flexible to try it out.
“Yoga isn’t just twisting and turning on a mat,” Ross said. “That’s one perception in the west that needs to be clarified. That’s just a very minuscule aspect of it.”
Ross said there are many different types of yoga, including a more physical version meant to strengthen and regenerate the spine. Ross said yoga of sound helps reduce anxiety, and meditation helps boost energy and develop inner peace.
“Don’t have any expectations going into a yoga or a meditation class,” Ross said. “Just follow the instructions of the instructor, and keep it up on a consistent basis. And try to do it with a sense of joy, a sense of surrender, and the effects will be multiplied.”
Isha has been on Harrison Ferry Mountain in McMinnville for 20 years.
