Yoga: The mind-body workout

A Sanskrit word that means union with spirit, yoga started in India 5,000 years ago. To many people there and elsewhere, it is considered the sacred path to divine realization. No one can say exactly why it has caught on with the mainstream in many countries, but celebrities, athletes, corporations, even the medical community are espousing and embracing its benefits.

Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sting, Shaquille O’Neal and Tiger Woods, all assume the occasional lotus. Companies such as Nike, Citibank, HBO and IBM provide on-site yoga classes for employees. Recently, yoga made both "Oprah" and the cover of Time. It is among the fastest-growing exercise classes offered in gyms and health clubs.

Yoga is a regimen of breath control, meditation, and stretching and strengthening exercises and is thought to promote mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. What sets yoga apart from most other exercise programs is that it places as great an emphasis on mental fitness as it does on physical fitness. Studies suggest that the practice of yoga can lower blood pressure, increase energy, and even relieve mild depression. Some people claim that yoga can alleviate asthma and other medical conditions, but there have been few controlled trials on yoga’s effect on health. Nevertheless, yoga can increase strength, balance and flexibility, and many people say it gives them more energy and makes them feel calmer and more centered – in much the same way as Tai Chi, a comparable Chinese system of movement.

Learning Yoga

There are several types of yoga, including jnana, karma, laya, raja and hatha yoga. Bhakti yoga, for example, emphasizes spirituality, while hatha yoga, the type most popular in many Western countries, aims to strengthen and tone the body as well as free the mind from distractions.

Hatha yoga involves slow, regulated breathing, gently held stretches and positions, and meditation. Most classes range from 45 to 75 minutes and are held once or twice a week, but people can reap the benefits of yoga by doing the regimen at home for as little as 10 to 20 minutes a few times a week.

A session generally begins with breathing exercises, which involve taking long, deep breaths through the nose. The breathing exercises help relax the body and help free the mind of worries and distractions. Breathing deeply through the nose is a vital component of yoga, and students learn to concentrate on each breath as it enters and exits the nostrils. It can be done while seated or lying down.

After completing a set of breathing exercises, people begin the asanas, or postures. The positions are divided into a few broad categories, including standing postures, balance poses, backbends, and twists, which are sometimes combined into a flowing series of movements. Hold the positions for a few seconds to a few minutes, depending on your strength and experience. Holding the body correctly is more demanding than it looks, and when practiced regularly, the postures can increase endurance, strengthen muscles, and improve flexibility and balance. It is important to challenge your limits during a stretch or a pose, but you should never experience sharp or shooting pain, and should stop if this occurs.

As you arrive at your first class in yoga, be sure to tell the teacher if you have lower back pain, arthritis, osteoporosis, or other problems that may prevent you from doing certain postures. Since some positions may exacerbate certain conditions, do not be shy about speaking up.

Although the postures will make the arms, legs, abdomen, and trunk stronger, they are chiefly designed to strengthen and align the spinal column. Chakras, or centers of energy, are said to be located between the base of the spinal column and the crown of the head, and yogis (practitioners of yoga) believe that proper spinal alignment is necessary for a well-functioning body.

A yoga session typically ends with meditation, which is done either seated or lying down. Clearing the mind of all thoughts may sound easy to people who haven’t tried it, but it is a challenging task. To keep distracting thoughts at bay, instructors recommend that people focus on their breathing and, if their thoughts stray to other matters, to calmly return to thoughts of breathing.

People who meditate report that it helps them sleep more soundly, increases their concentration and memory, and brings them a feeling of contentment, although there is as yet little scientific data to support these observations.

The Many Forms Of Hatha Yoga

Hatha yoga, aside from being the most widely practiced type of yoga in the US and Europe, is also the most physical. It uses postures as the way to healthy enlightenment. But hatha has hundreds of forms. Here are some of the popular ones:

•Ashtanga. Physically demanding, this form of yoga requires and develops strength, flexibility and stamina. Great for those who want to sweat, ashtanga combines breathing with a series of movements done in quick succession. Power yoga and vinyasa flow are both derivatives of ashtanga yoga.

• Bikram. Also known as hot yoga, this is done in a room heated to nearly 100°F, so joints are warm and movement is theoretically easier. Focus is on a repeated set of asanas.

• Iyenger. The focus is alignment. This is a safer form of yoga and therapeutic in design. Good for beginners. Instructors often use straps or pillows to help participants in postures.

• Kripalu. A gentler therapeutic form of yoga that focuses on reacquainting the mind and body. Students hold poses while meditating.

• Kundalini. Good for beginners, involves stretching and breathing, coordinating breathing and meditation.

• Viniyoga. Usually taught one-on-one and tailored to the individual. The asanas and breath are equally important as students work at their own pace to integrate movement with breathing and gain awareness.

Health Benefits

Yoga has been claimed to produce beneficial effects – from improving the flow of lymph to balancing the level of hormones in postmenopausal women. At New York’s Presbyterian Medical Center, all heart patients undergoing cardiac procedures are offered massages and yoga during their recovery period. At Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, cardiac doctors encourage their patients to enroll in the hospital’s Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiac Center, which offers yoga and other therapies. The Center’s director, Dr. Noel Bairey Merz, says that while they "haven’t tested yoga as a stand-alone therapy," patients who included yoga in their treatments, showed "tremendous benefits." These include "lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure and improved cardiovascular circulation."

The most cited research study on yoga is that of Dr. Dean Ornish in 1990. Dr. Ornish tested 94 patients with coronary artery disease, of whom 53 were prescribed yoga, group support and a strict vegetarian diet extremely low in fat. After a year on the program, patients in this group showed "significant overall regression of coronary atherosclerosis." The findings were well received but questions remain as to whether it was the severe diet rather than the yoga that produced the beneficial results. Dr. Ornish is currently doing a similar study on patients with prostate cancer.

There are many other scientific investigations which suggest improved bodily functions in those who practice yoga. Critics, however, are quick to point out that only a few of these studies have been published in leading scientific journals. Yet, there are those who say that yoga, an exercise of both the body and mind, and which is as old as the sphinx of ancient Egypt, may yet prove to be the medical miracle of tomorrow!

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Want to join a yoga class? Call Dr. Pie Aycardo of Sprint Fitness Center at 637-51-67/68, where German yoga expert, Hermann Huber will be conducting yoga classes twice a week.