As a yoga instructor in Ellensburg, Washington for the
past six years I have noticed a surge in attendance which
is consistent with the findings of Yoga teachers around the
country. Now there is hard evidence to support my
suspicion that Yoga is the exercise boom of the decade. A
recent Roper poll commissioned by Yoga Journal reveals that
over six million Americans practice yoga - 1.86 million of
them “regularly” and another 17 million more are
“interested in yoga” although they haven’t tried it yet.
Yoga is now the fastest growing exercise trend in America
today. Demand for Yoga classes at U.S. health clubs and
fitness centers has soared and the Yoga Journal in Berkeley
California has seen it’s circulation increase by over 60%
in the last seven years. It comes as no surprise that Jane
Fonda’s Yoga Exercise Workout has now edged out “Buns of
Steel” at the top of Billboards exercise video chart.
Why, thousands of years later, is the most ancient of
fitness systems now taking off? Could it be the escalating
tension of life? When I poll my beginning
students the majority of them say they’re in the class to
relieve the stress in their lives.
Fallout from the aerobics boom accounts for some of the
growth. People are looking for something more balanced,
holistic, and introspective - and they’re finding it in
yoga. In contrast to running or other activities that
involve strenuous or jarring repetitive motions, yoga
doesn’t exact a long-term physical price. Yoga can also
prevent or help heal injuries related to sports or other
physical activities. Sports that require repeated muscle
contractions (like running) can lead to chronic stiffness
or lack of flexibility.
Yoga’s whole-body approach to health can increase lung
capacity, height, flexibility, aid digestion and
circulation while reducing stress, insomnia, asthma attacks
and back pain. For this reason, many physical therapists
recommend yoga for back patients or patients with chronic
pain. New studies show yoga can even help reverse heart
disease.
Yoga is also gear-free. All you need are loose,
comfortable clothing and a piece of floor to sprawl on. It
doesn’t hurt, doesn’t take much time, you can do it
anywhere, & anyone can do it - no matter what your age,
fitness level, or physical limitations.
Yoga is a practice for people from all walks of life. My
classes include college students, housewives, biologists,
seniors, business owners, judges, and a growing number of
physical therapists and health care professionals who come
for everything from back problems and improved flexibility,
to stress relief and weight loss.
According to Ropers survey “Influential Americans” - the
politically and socially active minority whose penchants
are widely viewed as predictive of future trends are three
times as likely as most Americans to be currently
practicing Yoga. College graduates are also three times
more likely to practice than average, and women are
slightly more likely to practice than men. The west coast
is the yoga capital of the country, with close to ten
percent of the western population admitting they indulge.
Even the corporate sector is opening it’s board rooms to
yoga which includes meditation, and breathing techniques
that bring about significant stress reduction and a variety
of other health improvements. Yoga, they’ve discovered, is
an extremely effective form of exercise consisting of
stretching and then holding a variety of postures. A well
designed yoga routine will warm-up and stretch muscles,
ligaments & tendons in a way that restores our body systems
to healthy working order.
The meditation is simply taking time for silence. Silence
has been proven to be the most productive and creative time
of the day. Stepping out of this fast-moving world of the
senses, you’ll find the world will wait for you and you
will be better able to cope with it when you return.
Yoga’s breathing exercises are the training of breath as a
tool to achieve heightened energy & awareness. Breathing
exercises can be used to solve specific problems like
lowering blood pressure, improving your ability to relax,
or helping to stop smoking once and for all. They are easy
to master and they become a part of you.
Together, yoga postures, meditations and breathing
techniques can bring about powerful life changes. People
are coming to my yoga classes from all walks of life. When
I ask them “Why?” I get the same answer over and over again
- because they are going to do whatever works, and “yoga
works.”