Yoga

“瑜伽”源自梵文，意为：联合、相应、加入。瑜伽是一种能使人达到完美精神内省和宁静状态的印度训练方法，使人体感官从物质客观宇宙转移到灵性的内在专注，并带来完美、平和以及快乐。
 

Feeling tired? Under too much stress? No time to exercise? Well, you may want to try yoga. It’s what more and more people have been turning to to ease the troubles of modern life. Practically unheard of in the West until 50 years ago, yoga has become one of the most popular health trends around. 　

Yoga has become so popular in recent years, it’s easy to overlook the fact that it is actually one of humankind’s oldest activities. Scholars think that yoga grew out of the methods used by shamans of the Indus Valley, more than 5,000 years ago.　

Shamans were the holy men of early human civilization. Their role in society was to communicate with the spirit world to find solutions to problems facing their people. Over time, these shamans developed a system of mental and physical exercises to expand their consciousness, and thereby gave a new perspective on the problems of daily life. These exercises formed the foundation of modern yoga. 　

For thousands of years yoga was practiced mainly in India. The exercises of yoga were incorporated into three of the Indian religions: Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. Technically, yoga is not a religion; it is a method that can be used by anyone to pursue their own religious (or non-religious) goals. Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism, practiced yogic meditation, and meditation is still a central part of Buddhism today. Yoga was practically unknown to the West until the 1960s, when popular culture began to show an interest in Eastern religions. Pop culture icons, such as the Beatles, helped popularize yoga by showing interest in yogic meditation. People began to look at yoga as a way to find peace of mind in a world that was anything but peaceful. 　

Since the 1960s yoga’s popularity has grown steadily. Nowadays, Westerners practice all kinds of yoga. There is Bikram, or “Hot Yoga,” done in rooms heated to over 40 degrees Centigrade. There is baby yoga in which infants copy the stretching poses of their mothers. There are even yoga classes for people in their 70s! 　

In fact, there are so many people who want to learn yoga that yoga schools across the United States are having difficulty keeping up with the demand. Judging by its popularity, yoga is as useful for solving the problems of today as it was for solving the problems 5,000 years ago.

[注释]：
practically : for all practical purposes; virtually 实际上，几乎　
trend : current style; vogue 潮流　
overlook : to ignore deliberately or indulgently; disregard 忽视　
civilization : an advanced state of intellectual, cultural, and material development in human
society, marked by progress in the arts and sciences, the extensive use of writing, and the
appearance of complex political and social institutions 文明　
mental : of or relating to the mind; intellectual 心理的　
expand : to increase the size, volume, quantity, or scope of; enlarge 扩展　
consciousness : the state or condition of being conscious 意识，知觉　
perspective : subjective evaluation of relative significance; a point of view 观点　
foundation : the act of founding, especially the establishment of an institution with provisions for
future maintenance 基础　
incorporate : to unite (one thing) with something else already in existence 并入，纳入　
founder : 创始者　
meditation : the act or process of meditating 冥想，打坐　
icon : one who is the object of great attention and devotion; an idol 偶像　
popularize : to make popular 使……流行　
anything ... but: 绝不是……　
infant : a child in the earliest period of life, especially before he or she can walk 婴儿　
stretch : to lengthen, widen, or distend 伸展　
pose : to assume or hold a particular position or posture, as in sitting for a portrait 姿势