If there were ever an ideal time to try something new, to find your inner self, to stretch your horizons and your hamstrings, this September is it: It's time to celebrate your yin and your yang while getting bendy during National Yoga Awareness Month.
According to the Yoga Month website, "National Yoga Month is a grassroots campaign administered by the Yoga Health Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization. All funds benefit the national awareness campaign and Yoga-Recessin School to bring yoga-based health and fitness education into classrooms."
The health benefits of yoga are numerous. Practicing yoga on a regular basis — three to five times per week — has been proven to:
• Improve flexibility, strength, endurance, balance, alignment, circulation, respiration, concentration, memory
• Reduce tension, stress, anxiety
• Lower weight, cholesterol, blood pressure
Yoga can be performed in any location at just about any time, with very few pieces of equipment (i.e., props) and by every age group and level of ability. It can be practiced alone or in groups, and it can incorporate total silence, chimes, chanting, ethereal music or any music or sound under the sun. The point is not to compete with your neighbor but instead to push yourself to the point of effort — not pain.
Yoga shapes bodies and souls alike. Beginning classes are readily available in the Wichita area, as are more-advanced classes, such as the YMCA's Power Yoga classes (see its website for class schedules). And try out classes at a variety of studios and gyms around town to find a teacher who really connects with you. Or rotate classes and learn from all the teaching styles available.
To get you started, try a week of free yoga classes: Join any yoga class at Genesis Health Clubs in Wichita, Salina, Hutchinson and Emporia between September 22 and 30. Go to the Genesis website to check for yoga schedules or call 316-518-8158 for more information.
Whatever you do, just keep doing yoga. Like so may others who have found yoga to be more than just a simple workout routine, you may find that it positively affects other areas of your life, as well.
Namaste!
Comments