The practice of yoga started in India about 3000 years ago and continues to grow in popularity all over the world. Yoga is a combination of challenging poses and meditative breathing, exercises seen by many of its practitioners as a way to achieve harmony between body and mind whilst improving the health of both.

Yoga stretches are purported to exert every nerve, muscle and gland in the body, and recent research into yoga has shown that it is beneficial to those with type 2 diabetes, asthma, mental health disorders such as bipolar affective disorder, and yoga has even shown benefit in improving symptoms in patients with advanced cancer. But what happens inside the body during a yoga practice?