In This Chapter

V Yoga as a body/mind workout

V Yoga as your ultimate fitness power source

V Cross-train with yoga

V How yoga enhances your sports performance

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Yoga is more than stretching. No matter what your fitness level, yoga can be a challenging exercise program that builds superior strength and endurance. You'll even break a sweat! Yoga involves a level of mental and physical concentration that results in greater flexibility, increased muscle power, refined balance, improved cardiovascular function, increased lung capacity, toned immune and digestive systems, and improved functioning of internal organs. If you're looking to yoga for body/mind fitness power, you've come to the right place.

Yoga Means Connection

Yoga taps into your inner power, connecting your body with your mind. It's easy to fall into a pattern of associating fitness with the body alone. We run, do aerobic dance, bicycle, and perform sit-ups and pushups—all for our bodies. What does your mind have to do with it? But the yogi will soon see the absurdity of this notion. Body and mind are one, and although they can become isolated and dissociated from each

other, yoga brings them back together where they belong. Everything works better when all the circuits are connected. Your mind can boost your physical performance to new heights, and control over your body is training for control over your mind.

Are You Off Balance?

Perhaps you've been feeling "scattered" lately. Do you lose things easily? Forget appointments or information? Are you overwhelmed by the buzz of activity in your life? Maybe you think you don't have the time to slow down and get "centered," but you must know this: You don't have the time not to get centered. If you're feeling out of balance, you're wasting your days, your energy, and your power. You're like a house with the heat on and all the windows open. Yoga can help you close the windows (or turn off the heat) and center on making the most of each precious moment of your day.

Sometimes stress is a good thing. It can give you the power to escape from a dangerous situation. It can help you succeed in life, both in your physical pursuits (say, running a marathon) and in your intellectual challenges (say, passing a test). Too much stress, however, wreaks havoc on the body. When experiencing stress, the brain stimulates the adrenal glands, resulting in certain telltale symptoms:

>- Your heart rate speeds up.

>- Your blood pressure rises.

>- Your breathing quickens and becomes more shallow.

>- Your pupils dilate.

>- Your muscles tense.

>- You sweat.

>- Your senses become heightened.

>- Blood flows to your muscles and brain.

Too much of this kind of activity will wear out anyone's system. Yoga's body/mind fitness power can channel stress more efficiently, helping you instead of hurting you.

Mind Meet Body, Body Meet Mind

Beginning to practice yoga is like introducing your body and your mind for the first time. Sure, they have resided in close proximity your entire life, but do they really know each other? If you want to be truly fit, you must introduce your body to your mind and your mind to your body. Hatha Yoga, the yoga that concentrates on strengthening and purifying the physical body, is the perfect introduction.

Practicing Hatha Yoga means finding the balance in the union of your body, mind, and spirit. Hatha Yoga is truly a holistic exercise (body + mind + spirit = holistic),

because it involves the activation, control, and mastery of every part of your body. Fitness is the inevitable result—so is restful sleep, improved health, and tranquillity of mind. Hatha Yoga gives voice to what the body knows: All its parts are one.

Coming Back to Center

Just like any other sport, yoga requires a warm-up period. Haphazardly practicing may build your strength to a small degree, but you won't get the benefits of yoga's body/ mind discipline. Centering is a mental warm-up to go along with your physical warm-up. As you practice your beginning poses, consciously focus your mind on your body. Notice how your body feels and what it's doing. Commit to your yoga practice for the next 10, 15, 30, or however many minutes you have allotted yourself. The more often you make a habit of consciously centering your mind on what your body is doing, the more you'll notice a feeling of calm, of being centered in your daily life. Your yoga fitness power is showing!

Tapping Into Your Yoga Power Source

So how does all this "centering" and concentration get you in shape? Because your mind and your body are so intricately connected, a centered mind with the power of concentration works directly on the body, allowing each yoga posture to accomplish the maximum possible benefit. Don't be misled into thinking you can ignore the "mental" parts of yoga because you aren't in it for the "enlightenment." Perhaps getting in shape is priority one for you. That's great! But the key to yoga's fitness power is in the synthesis of everything you are: your body, your mind, your spirit—each part working together to make the whole stronger, healthier, and more alive. Remember, a healthy body means more than just a strong body. As any doctor will tell you, a positive attitude toward life is central to the body's natural healing powers. Yoga stimulates your body/mind power source, channeling your positive mental energy into your physical workout, and vice versa.

Bend Without Breaking

If you've always been athletic but haven't concentrated on maintaining your flexibility, you may be nervous about trying yoga. You may ask yourself, "Don't I have to be able to sit in that lotus pose all day?" Of course not! Endurance isn't necessary for the

beginning runner—you attain endurance by running. Yoga is the same way. If you're about as flexible as a steel pole, start slowly and go only as far into a posture as you can. Every week of practice will take you farther. Before you know it, your joints will loosen, your muscles will stretch, and your body will take on a smoother, more pleasing shape.

Perhaps you've always been naturally flexible. Don't think yoga will be simple! There's always the next posture waiting for you.

As you accomplish postures you couldn't begin to achieve when you started, you'll understand flexibility in a new way. The achievement of a yoga posture is like winning a marathon without anyone else losing— pure triumph!

Balancing Acts

You probably take your ability to balance for granted. You get up in the morning, walk around all day without incident, and lie back down at night. Balancing wasn't always so easy, however. In fact, during one illustrious period of your life, learning to balance took up most of your waking moments.

Through yoga, balancing once again captures your attention. Balance is challenging. Yoga balance postures take keen muscle control and strength, mental centering, and lots of practice. Once you've refined your balancing act, you'll discover that the walking you take for granted is even easier than before. Balancing is control, both in stillness and in motion.

Strength from the Gut

Everybody knows that lifting a heavy weight takes strength. But balancing takes strength, too. So does holding a posture for an extended time. Yoga strength training is isometric (a form of exercise in which muscles are tensed in opposition to each other or to an immovable object). After assuming each yoga pose, you hold it for as long as you can hold it correctly. Talk about a way to wake up muscles you never knew you had! Yoga's isometric action is easier on your muscles than the weight-bearing and pounding of other sports, yet extremely effective for building strength. What's more, each yoga position in a well-structured workout includes a posture and its opposite, so your body will stay physically centered, never developing any side or particular body part out of proportion to the others.

Yoga positions are entered and held by the body in order to find the peace within— the point where sustaining the pose is easy, natural, and feels "right." The more difficult the pose, the harder it is to find peace. Yoga postures mirror life. When things are easy, it's easy to feel good. But feeling good when things aren't going your way— whether it's a bad hair day or a serious tragedy—is a challenge. Yoga is a journey through the poses, working with each pose until you find that peace, then progressing to the next level. This progression combines the building of physical strength with the toning of the mind.

This might surprise the Western athlete even more: Strength is compounded when the body, mind, and spirit are exercised together. Strength will mean more to you, once you've practiced yoga, than it did before.

Keeping the Faith

"But I know it will be just like that aerobics class," you may be thinking. "I'll be all excited for the first week or two, then I'll get bored and quit." In any given day, probably just as many people quit a fitness program as start one. Why should yoga be any different?

The benefits you'll soon feel from your yoga practice are so comprehensive, you may well find that you'd rather give up coffee, doughnuts, or pepperoni pizza than give up your daily yoga "therapy." Beyond the more obvious benefits of increased flexibility, balance, and strength, yoga has thousands of less dramatic (though no less important) rewards. Yoga feels different than other fitness programs, because each posture is specifically designed to activate your body in minute ways—adjusting here, stimulating there, stretching here, strengthening there, compressing, releasing, expanding, and reaching. With all this internal maintenance, you can't help but enjoy increased health and a vibrant sense of well-being.

Yoga vs. Other Exercise

Most Western forms of exercise emphasize stress on the muscles combined with quick, harsh movements. Yoga avoids such movements, which tend to trigger lactic acid production in muscle fibers, leading to pain. In addition, yoga's emphasis on breathing delivers more oxygen to muscles to further lessen the effects of lactic acid production. You needn't give up your favorite sport, however.

Part 1 > Let's Get Into Yoga

Just add yoga to the program. But first, read on to see how yoga compares to your favorite fitness activity.

Aerobic dance can be a lot of fun, especially for those who like music. Aerobic dancers who also do yoga are more graceful, have more fluid movements, are better able to keep up, and are more flexible. Like running, aerobic dance is primarily a cardiovascular activity; although low-impact aerobics are kinder to your body than high-impact, aerobic dancers still experience a lot of stress on their muscles and joints. Aerobics is energizing and great for people who need the motivation of a class and an instructor (something a yoga class also offers). Yoga is a great complement, because it balances aerobic dance's frenetic energy by inducing a sense of calm and inner

"But I know yoga won't give me the cardiovascular strength and endurance that running gives me!" you may be protesting. Consider this: Runners rely on strength and balance. Flexible runners get injured less often. Runners also tend to have shallow, hard breathing patterns; they sometimes hyperventilate. Yoga's deep breathing exercises increase your lung capacity, getting more oxygen to your brain and increasing your endurance.

Awesome Aerobics

control.

Rockin Running

Yoga is kinder to your body than running, so it makes a great alternate workout to give your body a rest from the constant pounding and joint stress runners experience. Runners frequently injure their feet, ankles, knees, and hips. You can use yoga postures to build strength in these same body parts! In fact, the New York Road Runners club promotes an official yoga program called "Power Yoga."

Super-Charged Stretching

Most of us have had basic stretching exercises drilled into us since grade school gym class. Bend down and touch your toes, reach to the right, reach to the left, roll your head from front to side to side. The difference between this type of stretching and yoga is that yoga stretches are specifically designed not only to lengthen your muscles, but also to stabilize your joints, stimulate your organs, balance your endocrine system, and strengthen your muscles as you hold the stretch. It's still a good idea to do basic stretches before engaging in strenuous exercise, such as running or swimming, but if you also add yoga to your fitness program, stretching will soon be a breeze.

Superior Swimming

Swimming is an excellent exercise, because it works your muscles and your heart without putting stress on your body. Swimming is essentially a cardiovascular exercise. You move through the water and increase your heart rate. If you're a swimmer, you'll find yoga a great addition to your fitness program, because the increased flexibility and strength gained through yoga make swimming easier. Also, the breathing practice in yoga is of exceptional benefit to swimmers, who must have good control over their breathing.

Uplifting Weight Lifting

Lifting weights adds bulk to muscles but decreases flexibility. Many weight-lifters are "muscle-bound." Weight-lifters can benefit dramatically from yoga: While weight training builds bone, muscle mass, and strength, yoga lengthens the muscles and keeps them flexible. Weight-lifters also benefit from the breathing exercises and balance training of yoga. Yoga is really a form of weight lifting. You aren't lifting barbells, but in many of the poses, you are lifting your own weight. Think about how much you weigh—wouldn't it be quite an accomplishment to lift that weight easily?

The Western approach to yoga tends to be more fitness-oriented, while the Eastern approach to yoga is based on the idea that a healthy body makes it easier to progress spiritually. Either approach benefits both body and mind, however. If you're interested in yoga for its physical benefits, you can consider the spiritual "centeredness" you achieve a splendid bonus. Or, if you tend more toward the Eastern way, consider fitness the icing on the cake of spiritual growth. Either way, yoga fitness power means self-confidence, self-control, and inner peace. Whatever your fitness level, let yoga challenge you.

Ecstasy: Yoga Union

It s All in Your Mind!

Everyone knows that a good percentage of athletic performance is mental. We've all seen our favorite team in a pressure situation get psyched out—

^-> suddenly, it can't do anything right. Think about the

last time you played your favorite sport. Was there ever a time when you suddenly slipped into "the zone"? Your performance becomes flawless, and you're able to exceed your normal abilities.

Because yoga unites body and mind, it teaches you control over your mental state as it teaches you control over your body. What happens to you really is "all in your mind," so let your mind be your instrument—learn how to "play" it in the zone of peak performance.

One of the goals of yoga is to attain a state of oneness with the universe. Surprisingly, this goal has endless practical applications. When your mind and body are one, and one with the power of the universe, the sense of tranquillity and control you can achieve makes everything clearer and simpler. Everything you do will be affected. Do you have a big presentation at work? You are calm, confident, and empowered. Do you have a championship tennis match? You are strong, flexible, buoyant, and the ball seems to go exactly where you will it to go. Do you have a really difficult test? Your mind is so uncluttered that all your studying comes back to you effortlessly.

Of course, such power doesn't come easily. A week of sitting in the lotus position for five minutes a day won't be enough to send you permanently into "the zone." Yoga is a process. Your body and your mind need to learn new habits and a new way to communicate with each other. But if you're persistent and follow the yoga path, you'll

Maximize Your Performance

quickly perceive the changes blessing your life. You'll feel peace of mind, even the ecstasy of oneness with the life force. And you will be in the best shape you've ever been in, too.

So what are you waiting for?

The Least You Need to Know

V Yoga is about personal progress, not competition.

V Yoga uses mind power to build body power.

V Yoga's isometric action is easy on the body.

V Yoga makes you a better runner, dancer, swimmer, weight-lifter, and all-around great athlete!