Yoga is not exercising!
The western world recognizes yoga as something to do with exercising, stretching or breathing.
But in the Eastern phylosophy of Vedic science it has a much broader and deeper meaning .Often times, its used in conjugation with many forms of spiritual seeking such as Bhakti(devotion), Jnana(knowledge), Karma(Action), Hatha(excercises) etc.
Yoga is a Sanskrit word derived from the root word "yuj"which literally means "to unite", "to connect", "to yoke", "to join" with the higher self i.e the Atma or the Spirit and also the all pervading power of God Almighty. This has been clearly described by many saints and prophets of the past who incarnated at different times in different places and all of them uninanimously have talked about the spiritual union of the spirit with the divine power that encompasses all of us.
Sahaja Yoga explains yoga as simple, spontaneous and effortless union with the divine power though a process called Self Realization; that takes place by the awakening of this dormant energy (Kundalini). This energy is found within every human being at the end of the spinal cord in a triangular bone called sacrum where sacrum is a greek word which means sacred, even the greeks knew about this energy. And once this yoga takes place, one can easily feel the all pervading power of the divine on their finger tips, on top of their heads or sometimes on their body in the form of cool breeze. This experience has been described in many holy scriptures such as in the Bible it is mentioned that Christ said "I will appear before you as tongues of flames", in the Holy Koran its mentioned that " Your hands will speak" and a great Hindu saint Adishankaracharya has described it as "Salilam, salilam.. " which means cool breeze.
Its been clearly described in the Gita as "Yoga Kshemam Vahamyaham" where Shri Krishna talked about yoga and that when this happening takes place only then that God lookes after your well being.