The union of your body and breath is a powerful way to bring you back to the here and now.
Yoga is not the same as streching. I'm sorry. It's just not! This is not to say that stretching and releasing muscular tension is not also a valuable physical practice - of course, we all know how skipping the post-run stretch means it's nearly impossible to climb the stairs the following day. But right there is the difference. Stretching is for your physical body. Yoga, however, is for your mind, your body, your soul and for your connection with each of those individually and collectively.
What makes Yoga different?
Primarily, what seperates Yoga from most other physical activity is the focus on the breath. The continued focus on the in- and exhale and the alignment of your breath cycles with each asana has amazing results. Not only will you find that your body can do, bend, twist, hold, reach and move so much more when you are aligned with your breath, but through the control of the breath your mind is also given the chance to finally find stillness.
As your body moves and the breath lengthens, the mind slows and relaxes. Moving meditation. And, once we are in alignment with our breath and our mind becomes quiet, we are able to connect with what is behind all of our thoughts.
Yoga is in fact a state in which we can enter, when we find union in what are normally seperate elements - body, mind and soul.
And of course, this means that EVERYONE can do Yoga - as long as you can breath, you can practice.