Click on the image above to learn more about these 68" yoga mats
Gaiam.com, Inc

Reflexology socks - how clever!
Gaiam.com, Inc

Healing habits

You will love yoga

Yoga is a discipline that has been in existence for at least 5,000 years. Yoga addresses the mind, body and spirit, but different schools can have a different emphasis. Most practitioners seem to agreee that there are eight basic kinds of yoga - but not everyone lists the same eight branches. Here are widely recognized approaches to yoga:

• Bhakti (devotional) - a focus on meditation to attain universal love
• Karma (cause and effect) - encourages change to become a better person
• Jnana (wisdom) - reminds you of your place in the universe, employs "neti-neti" which means "not this, not this" to help you shed misguided thoughts
• Raja (royal) - by focusing awareness on the "third eye" (located on your forehead), you achieve balance between mind and body
• Mantra (words) - rhythmic chanting settles the mind
• Laya (higher consciousness) - the five energy centers in your spine and the two in your head serve as the pathways to higher consciousness
• Tantra (creative force) - some associate this form with sexuality
• Hatha (health) - the most popular in the United States, it includes stretching and exercising

Yoga need not be confined to the living room or gym

To these, others would add:

• Kundalini - focusing on the power located at the base of your spine allows it to flow into your brain so that you achieve higher consciousness
• Kriya - by directing the life force up and down your spine, you achieve transformation
• Ashtanga (Iyengar) - also known as power yoga, this form of yoga uses a set of postures that produce intense reactions in the muscles, with profuse sweating to detoxify

Finding the right approach for you may take some exploration, but the Hatha form most popular in the United States has great appeal because it emphasizes physical postures (asana) and breathing exercises (pranayama). (Adding meditation promotes further enlightenment of the spirit.)

The breathing exercises offer help for asthma and other problems such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Yoga also helps reduce high blood pressure in many people, as it improves flexibility, which assists with arthritis. Yoga also offers relief for people afflicted with insomnia, and it can also offer tremendous benefits in dealing with chronic pain. As you start to feel better, mental acuity improves. As this suggests, many consider it a fountain of youth, helping people deal with many of the infirmities associated with aging.

If you are new to yoga (or new to exercise in general), the key is to ease into a program that works for you. Unfortunately, some instructional videotapes were created by experts who may not realize how daunting these exercises are for novices. The Ali McGraw tape, for one, can lead to muscle pulls, not enlightenment, if you are not already in great shape.

Many women in particular choose an exercise program based on whether it promotes weight loss. Yoga offers a holistic approach that not only includes physical toning, but it also encourages healing the mind and spirit as a means of addressing the emotional reasons we often overeat.

As the exercise component causes you to gain muscle and lose fat, your weight may stay the same (muscle weighs more than fat), but you can expect to lose inches. Remember also that lean muscle mass is what you need to keep burning calories even while your body is at rest.

As you gain proficiency, you can always explore other approaches, to see which is best for you. The nice thing about using books and tapes is that you can try out various techniques in the privacy of your own home, without feeling any pressure to pursue paths that may not suit you.

Many people embrace yoga because of its health benefits only to find that it is the serenity it induces that is the real benefit. As you look to new ways to build upon gains made through yoga, you can also look at other Eastern practices ranging from tai chi to transcendental meditation.