“When you do yoga, your nervous system calms down and you get out of that fight-or-flight state, Sherwin says. “Just sitting and breathing can be yoga. You’re aware, you’re in the moment, and you can find peace in that moment.”

The literal translation of the word “yoga,” which is from Sanskrit (recognized as the original language of yoga) is “union,” says Sherwin.right up arrow And that’s an apt way to describe yoga as we know it today, she says. “We define it as bringing together the mind and the body by use of the breath.”