Recent studies have linked the age-old practice of yoga with some incredible healing benefits — lowering rates of inflammation in breast cancer and heart failure patients and regulating glucose and insulin levels in diabetes patients, for instance — but one Ohio State University researcher is proving that yoga is also an excellent stress-buster, reducing the level of the “fight or flight” hormone by 40 percent in one study and decreasing reported levels of stress by 10 percent in another.
Yoga means many things to many people, but here is how the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines yoga: “A Hindu philosophy that teachers a person to experience inner peace by controlling the body and mind a system of exercises for attaining bodily or mental control and well-being.”
If you live in an urban area, there are probably several dozen yoga studios or community center yoga classes within walking distance of your home. Even if you’re in the middle of nowhere, accessing yoga videos and tutorials has become relatively simple thanks to the Internet. But with all of the different types of yoga classes available, it can be difficult to pick the right one for your body, lifestyle and health needs. Should you take a hatha or vinyasa yoga class? A power yoga or Ashtanga? Why in the world would anyone want to do yoga postures for 90 minutes in a room heated to 110 degrees Fahrenheit? (Hint: Because even though you suspect you might die, hot yoga feels really, really good.) Yoga Journal offers a good introduction to the various types of yoga, but adds that many yoga instructors will mix and match the various disciplines.
Want to find out more about yoga? Check out these sites:
Amazon’s Highest Rated Yoga DVDs
