The Strengthening Power of Yoga by Miriam A. Silver

Years ago when I was a mere young'un, I tried my hand at Yoga at a class in the city. Of course, what I was met with scared the hell out of me so much that I never went back. At the very first class, the instructor expected all of us to stand on our heads, advanced and newbies alike. Evidently he thought we were all visiting an Ashram studying to leave the material world behind us. 

    Out of the necessity to keep my joints flexible and to find a way to tone my body, I decided to try my hand at it again. After a year of structuring my weekends around this well regimented exercise, I now find that I cannot think of anything better that I would rather do than to hop over to the gym and get my 75 minute fix.

    I was never a fan of exercise, but with each passing year, you begin to notice that your body has a greater need for it. Without exercise, your body becomes inflexible, brittle, flabby and along with your metabolism and every organ and system in your body, it starts to lose the vitality it once had. That and a memory of my aging father, some years back, trying very hard to bend down and tie his own shoelaces, sort of stuck with me and warned of things to come.

    Yoga is almost like plugging yourself into an electric socket. It revives you and revs you up. You engage in a slower breathing pattern that helps to de-stress and focus you. You walk straighter and more upright instead of like Quasi Moto, and you feel more balanced, clearer in thought, structured and purposeful. 

   I wasn't sure I was going to get through it the very first time I went to a class since I was having a lot of problems with my knees; however, through the support of my instructor (who does not expect me to stand on my head like a Hindu monk), I found ways to modify the moves and make them easier to withstand. And even though I cannot bend myself into a pretzel like the younger members of the class, I find myself engaging in movements that I thought my body was otherwise incapable of performing.

Here's a list of Health Benefits that Yoga can offer.

This was found in an article from Women's Health Magazine:

1. Breathing deeply fires up your thinking process

2. Intense focus helps to control feelings such as anger and fear, and eases up on those "fight or flight" stress hormones that makes you want to become a serial killer during working hours

3. Your nervous system gets a chill pill

4. Improves balance which keeps you from becoming a klutz

5. Enhances the immune system

    So, if you are the type of person who finds the idea of working out akin to sticking your head in a microwave oven, than perhaps Yoga might just be the way to go. Try it out!