Its effects may be gradual, but yoga, when practiced regularly, will rock your mind, body and spirit.

Why Yoga?

The longer you go without stretching, repeating the same basic muscle movements every day, the more likely you will lose your range of motion and be unable to move freely.  Yoga can help balance your body and keep it free of aches of pains.  Even women in nursing homes who regularly participate in yoga classes have fewer complaints of aches & pains than women who are sedentary.  It has also been proven to reduce medication requirments in those with asthma and has long been know to be more effective than splinting patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.  If you have arthritis in your hands, you can reduce tenderness, pain during activity, and improve range of motion.

One of the major benefits of yoga is its effect on anxiety.  Because yoga practice involves breathing and meditation, yoga practitioners are more likely to be calmer and less likely to react negatively to outside circumstances.

Getting Started in Yoga

First you need to do a little research and decide which type of yoga will best suit your personality, lifestyle and current level of fitness.  I have taken yoga classes at yoga studios and at the gym, and I also have several yoga tapes for home practice.  I enjoy both and choose whatever works best for my schedule and mood.  I use my tapes every morning before breakfast.   AllegroMedical.com’s most popular yoga DVD is Everyday Yoga – Hips and Knees DVD.   It includes 5 different daily yoga practices that can be performed Monday through Friday, to keep it fresh.

Note to those who think they can’t do it:  Even after practicing yoga for years I am by no means a pro at this, and if I can do it, anyone can.  It’s how it makes me feel that keeps me going.  I’ll never be able to bend like a pretzel, but hey, I do what I can and that’s enough.  Remember, it’s called yoga ‘practice’.

To find a class in your area, check out the Yoga Journal Directory or your local paper.  If you’re just starting out, a hatha or vinyasa class would probably be best.   You can try other ones down the line.  I have friends that swear by the “hot yoga” classes. 

Yoga Equipment, Videos and Clothing

Yoga Mats - Also called sticky mats.  You can sometimes rent or use a mat at a yoga studio or gym, but really you will want your own mat for hygiene reasons.

Yoga Starter Kit - This has everything a beginning yoga student needs, including yoga blocks, a tote bag to take to class, a sticky mat, straps and a postures poster for reference.  You can also buy these essential yoga props, yoga foam blocks, yoga straps, a yoga mat and a small pillow or blanket separately.

Yoga Balls - Besides the essentials, there are some fun exercise balls and a FitBall Yoga DVD you might want to try at home. 

See all Yoga Videos/DVDs

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Pants – A pair of shorts or sweatpants will do, but you might look for special yoga pants that are fitted but give full range of motion.  Some are fitted at the top but slit at the bottom so you can check your alignment.

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The effects on your body from yoga are quite different that those you’ll find from traditional exercise.  Yoga is slow, dynamic, static.  Effort is minimized and awareness is internal.  The parasympathetic nervous system and the sucortical regions of the brain dominates.  Traditional  exercise is the opposite.  It involves maximum effort, muscle tension, cortical brain domination, forceful movements and external awareness.  Yoga carries a low risk of injuring muscles and ligaments.  Less so with exercise.

If you can, do both.  If you want to get started on something that will unite your mind, body and spirit.  Something that helps you find harmony, then I suggest yoga.

Namaste (I bow to you).

For me, worry manifests itself in racing thoughts or “mind chatter”.  It happens at night, mostly, when I’m trying to sleep or early morning when I’m having lucid dreams.  It drives me crazy when I’m having a totally irrational dream and I keep having it over and over again.  It usually means I need to face the problem and deal with it.  But what do you do when you just can’t stop thinking about your situation or problem?   Here are a few things that work for me:

1.  Stretch and Breathe.  I know it may sound hokey, but I’m telling you it’s changed my life.  Get yourself a DVD – I have several but the one I started with is AM/PM Yoga for Beginners.   You can get this used (1998 VHS)  for under $2 bucks on Amazon.  You’ll can also get more updated versions as well as DVDs for stretches for bad backs, weight loss, abs, etc.  Do it every day and you’ll start feeling calmer, among other things.  Your mind will be on the exercises and not on your problems.  Many workouts include at least a few minutes of meditation and breathing exercises.  The morning yoga tape only takes 15 minutes and it’s a great way to start your day.  Need some gear?  Get a Yoga Starter Kit (my favorite) or see all of Allegro Medical’s Yoga Equipment.  Need something more concrete?  See 10 Products to Help you Relax.

2.  Get into nature.  Go outside and walk around.  Plant something or dig around in the dirt.  Go to the park and sit in the grass or swing on the swingset.  Get out of the city if you can.  Reconnecting with the earth does wonders for your psyche.

3.  Focus on things you can control.  Most of our worry is wasted on things we can’t control, or things that never come to fruition.  Read Managing Stress: Practical Advice from a Pro.  This article will also help you become a constructive problem solver.   

4.  Find your safe harbor.  I use this type of visualization when I’m having trouble sleeping because of racing thoughts or recurring dreams.  It’s all about having a place to visit, in your mind, whenever you want to relax.  It might be a warm beach, a field of flowers (that’s mine but I’ll share) or a sidewalk cafe in Paris.  Whatever.  Whenever you need to escape you just close your eyes and visualize it. 

5.  Meditate.  Okay, this may actually happen for some people.  You sit down and just be quiet and have a matra or you do breathing exercises, etc.  But unless I have someone making me do it, I don’t.  If this is you, I suggest you go to a class or listen to a tape or something while you’re doing it.  I’m all for it, I just never can get myself to stick with it.  Let me know how it works for you.

6.  Be nice.  Turning your focus to others ALWAYS makes you feel better and stops the mind chatter.  Go a step further and help out with a local charity.  Just find one that you fancy and call them to see if they need any help!  A few hours of doing nice things for other people can completely change the way you look at your situation.  Even simple acts of kindness or random acts of kindness make you feel better.  Start by saying something nice to the next person you see. 

Bonus:  When I can’t get a song out of my head, I break the cycle by singing a foreign tune.  Freres Jacques is a popular one, but anything foreign will do.

Ahhhhh…. Ommmmm….  Hmmmmm….