If you’re looking for some yin or yang in your life, Wednesday is International Yoga Day.

Cathy Manuel with Freeing the Human Spirit says it has great emotional and mental benefits, “It has been known to have really positive effects on people’s anxiety and depression really helping it bring those things under control. So it’s about being present in the moment. And so when you’re, when you’re practicing yoga, you’re really focusing on the moves and on your breath and you’re allowing all of the other kind of difficulties or challenges or even joys of life to just fall to the side. You’re finding that rhythm between mind and body.”

Manuel adds it also helps to keep the body strong, and assists with flexibility, “Depending on the type of yoga that you practice, it helps keep the body strong and limber. It helps with flexibility and it helps with movement. It often helps with certain types of painful conditions that people might have in their backs and their hips.”

Events are planned across the province at various yoga studios, and in Riverfront Park in Moncton.

The events in Moncton are free, but donations are encouraged.  They will go to Freeing the Human Spirit, which is an organization that goes to teaching yoga to imates.

(Photo: submitted by Cathy Manuel)