How do i explain yoga?

for most people, being able to 'survive' 2 months in india is something intriguing and thus, i have successfully generated a lot of buzz about india and yoga since coming back in xmas last year. have to admit, i'm really getting sick of explaining to people what exactly i did in india. again, to most, spending that amount of time in india, is something unheard of. i told that 2 months is nothing compared to other europeans who spend 1 year going from one place to another so my stay is considered short by their standard. so, how do i explain yoga to these people? funny that amidst all the media exposures that yoga been getting last 2 years, there are some who actually think that yoga is all about meditation...where have they been really??? my answer, i admit, depends on the mood i'm in at that particular moment though at times, i prefer to cut the conversation short by saying..."what do you know about it so far" or "why are you interested?". and while they ponder trying to figure out an answer, i muttered something like "yoga has been getting bad rep in m'sia....such a shame....would be great if more people are taking up yoga" and then i gave a weak smile and changed the topic completely. wanna know about yoga?? google it and if still unclear, buy a book on yoga. just don't waste my time by asking a meaningless question on which you'll forget the answer as soon as i'm done explaining...

Weird terms in yoga

This term first came about when i was in a meditative posture and were asked to watch my breath. in yoga, we are constantly engaging ourselves in countless awkward positions that makes 'watching the breath' sounds normal. this is, of course, when the conversation is among yogis. we are so used to weird sounding terms like 'keep the collar bones smiling' and the likes that make our conversations, most times, plain weird. a friend once told me about a teacher who told her to hug her shins and no, by no means using hands, at all. i guess that is one of the reason why some people think that yogis are bunch of weirdos. then again, most people have the knack for generalising for fun sake which has absolutely nothing to do with religion or belief. of course, after spending sometime in india, i do admit that some yogis do behave strange and give an open invite to wrong interpretations. as for me, i try to sound as normal as possible i.e. using easily understood terms when conducting classes for simple reason that i want the students to focus more on their breathing then wasting thoughts and energy trying to decipher my words. it is hard as it is to connect mind, body and breath when doing the asanas so let's not make it more complicated by using hard to understand jargons.