Is Yoga for You?

If you aren’t one of more than 13 million Americans who practice yoga already, you might wonder if it could benefit you as part of your goal to be healthier and feel better.

Originating in ancient India sometime around 5,000 years ago, yoga employs stretching and physical postures, breathing and relaxation techniques. The word yoga comes from a Sanskrit word meaning “yoke or union” and is believed to refer to the union between mind and body.

According to the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, there is “growing evidence to suggest that yoga works to enhance stress-coping mechanisms and mind-body awareness.”

The most common type of yoga in the United States is Hatha yoga, which emphasizes postures (asanas) and breathing exercises (pranayama). It is used for a variety of conditions including depression, high blood pressure, stress, asthma and anxiety disorders. Many people do yoga simply to achieve physical fitness and to relax.

In my own life as a former yoga practitioner, I enjoyed the increased flexibility, balance and relaxation that came from 30 to 45 minutes of various stretches and positions while at the same time slowly inhaling and exhaling in a controlled manner. I liked being in a class at a yoga center, but eventually used videos at home to reduce the cost and to do it at a more convenient time for my schedule.

Compared to other exercise options, yoga is fairly inexpensive and requires little in the way of equipment other than a mat, which is optional but desirable, and stretchy, comfortable clothing. Expensive footwear isn’t needed either, as yoga is usually performed barefoot.

Yoga is safe for healthy people. If you have conditions such as spinal disc disease, glaucoma, retinal detachment, extremes of high or low blood pressure, severe osteoporosis, blood clots or cervical spondylitis, you should avoid inverted yoga postures.

If you are pregnant, yoga is safe under expert guidance, but some postures may need to be avoided. In general, if you have a medical condition, consult your health care provider before starting yoga, just to be sure it’s OK.

So, you might ask, why did you stop doing yoga? I think I stopped due to a bit of boredom doing yoga alone in my living room and also because I might have overdone it with some postures that seemed to aggravate hip pain. As I write this however, I think I may return to yoga again sometime in the future as part of my exercise regimen along with walking and tennis.

Reference: http://nccam.nih.gov/health/yoga/introduction.htm