The Benefits of Small Yoga Classes

Everybody’s saying it. Yoga has swept the nation and shows no signs of slowing down. Doctors prescribe it to heart patients, NFL linebackers practice it, celebrities from Jodie Foster to Halle BaIt happened overnight. On the morning of June 17, 1998, 25 million Americans who had gone to sleep as normal-size citizens woke to find that they were overweight. They hadn’t gained a single pound. But the government had suddenly decided that they were too heavy, a few pounds away from outright obesity and possibly in need of medication.erry, from Rhea Perlman to Raquel Welch boast about doing it even little kids are learning yoga moves in gym class. It’s as if the country went on an enlightenment field trip to India and I was absent that day.

Granted, calling yoga trendy seems somewhat oxymoronic. Can something that’s over 2,000 years old really fall into the same of-the-moment category as Spinning and snowboarding? (Talk about retro chic!) But there’s a difference between the yoga of the past 2,000 years and the yoga of, say, the past five, a difference that’s not so much physical as it is mystical. To Westerners, yoga has come to mean a series of pretzel-like poses that may or may not include a sprinkling of spirituality. Of course, that’s not really what the ancient yogis had in mind. “The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit meaning `union’; literally it is `union with God,’ “explains Sharon Gannon of Jivamukti Yoga Center in New York. “In this country, many people have removed the spiritual component for fear of offending anyone, but then it’s not yoga.”

Well, in this country, apparently lots of people think yoga can be just a physical workout. (Leave it to Americans to separate church from state.) When I tried yoga, I went looking for moves that would strengthen my upper body as well as stretch the lower half. And even when the class did contain a smattering of meditation or chanting, I enjoyed it for its destressing and relaxation potential, but at no time was I inspired to renounce my Christianity and take up an Eastern religion. I doubt I was alone. Yoga purists may not like to hear it, but yoga is booming because it offers something for everyone.

There are at least five clear benefits: Yoga can make you as strong as a weight lifter; it can give you Gumby-like flexibility; it can realign your skeletal system to solve problems with balance, posture and sports performance; it can chill your stressed-out mind; and, yes, if you like, it can lift you to a higher state of consciousness.