It would be hard to find anyone in modern society who doesn't feel they would benefit from having more energy. We face sharp deadlines, ever-increasing workloads, comprehensive to-do lists, and the pressures of multi-tasking. And that's just at work. Not to mention all the energy we'd love to have - but often don't - to share and utilise in our lives beyond work. Is it any wonder then that so many people's energy levels are strained with lethargy, exhaustion, overwork, and overstimulation? Which leaves many people in the boat of being overcaffeinated in the morning, and dosed up on a few drinks and mindless TV in the evenings, in an effort to maintain some kind of energy balance. It's fairly obvious that this recipe for managing energy levels - stimulants in the morning and numbing behaviours in the evenings - isn't sustainable in the long term. While taking up a yoga practice certianly doesn't mean that you're obliged to stop any of the aforementioned behaviours, it certainly might bring a more sustainable balance of energy to your life. Lets look at why this might be so...

1. Natural Energy. Any basic science class will explain that we are made up of energy. When our body's vital energy (prana) becomes stagnant, due to sedentary lifestyle, too many toxins like caffeine or alcohol in the system, stress - or any number of other vital energy blockages - we experience lethargy and inertia. Yoga helps to counteract this energetic lull by systematically invigorating each area of the body through both physical movement and increased respiration (deep breathing) both of which replenish the body's natural energy levels.

2. Restful Sleep. As our vital energy, or prana, begins to move freely through the body in yoga practice, the body's natural rhythms are re-established, alongside its natural energy levels. One of the key rhythms to effect energy, and one which is among the first create low energy levels, is restful sleep. A regular yoga practice activates the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for the rest-relax response in the body. There's nothing like a restful sleep to restore energy levels, and there's nothing like a regular yoga practice to restore restful sleep.

3. A natural 'upper'. As you begin to sleep more soundly and experience a natural boost of energy levels, the reliance on 'uppers' like caffeine, and 'downers' like wine or TV to manage your energy levels become less and less necessary. While you may still enjoy any, or all of these from time to time, they become optional indulgences and pleasures, rather than daily necessities to manage chronically low energy levels. Yoga is a natural energy regulator that has amazing roll-on benefits that lead invariably to much greater energy and concentration, higher immunity and a throng of other health benefits. All of which emerge from the simple choice to take time out to focus on breath and movement and calm the mind.

Who would've thought?