Breathe In, Breathe Out

The Art of Yoga

By Greg Downs

It was a Monday evening, and almost everyone at a Chicago-area Bally Total Fitness club was frantic. As always, there were men leaning heavily on stair climbing machines up front. In a back room a bass-heavy soundtrack blared as a Tae-Bo workout leader yelled instructions.

Only a few feet away, though, one room was almost entirely silent, and the yoga workout leader, Yirser Ra Hotep, wasn't telling his class to speed up. In his soft, insistent voice, he kept urging his pupils to slow down. "Breathe in, and with your exhalation, lean over to the side. Slowly, turn your heel from the side to the front," he told his class. Behind him, three women and three men slid slowly but gracefully into their next position.

These members chose yoga over the bustling class next door because they wanted to improve their flexibility, to combat nagging injuries and they were curious, but mostly because they had been busy all day and wanted to find something to help them calm down.

While the benefits of yoga are plentiful -- and sometimes miraculous -- most students and teachers come back to that basic point. Yoga teaches them how to relax and how to take control of their lives.

"It's really calming at the end of a stressful day," says Tracy O'Bannon, a Chicago product manager who attends two classes a week. "Usually I come in worrying about work, and by the end everything's just kind of gone. You're releasing all your pressure."

The key to that relaxation, says Hotep, is yoga's emphasis on controlled breathing. "Yoga helps you learn immunity to stress," says Hotep, who offers video and audiotapes about yoga through YogaSkills.com. "You don't respond in an inappropriate way. By slowing your breathing down, you can slow your heart rate. By slowing your heart rate, you calm yourself down. Then, you can make better decisions."

In small, specialized studios and large, comprehensive health clubs, yoga practitioners are also reaping the other benefits of the ancient art. Particularly, they say yoga helps them understand their bodies, improve their confidence and combat long-term health problems.

Want to see more?

• Is Joining A Gym Right for You?
• Do you enjoy yoga? Tell us about it at the Fitness and Nutrition Discussion Board. Fitness and Nutrition Discussion Board
• Selecting the Right Gym for You
• Tae-Bo: Is It For You?