Add a Little Yoga to Your Diet   

Yoga —it’s no longer just for patchouli-scented spiritual folks and those highly in tune with Eastern practices. Chances are, you have already tried it or even have friends who don't stop talking about how much they love it. Last week, I attended a class at my macho, testosterone-filled, weight lifters gym that had more men than women trying to stretch their taut hamstrings into a downward-facing dog. 

In typical, entrepreneurial American fashion, we have taken the popularity of yoga and run with it, ensuring there is truly something for everyone.  Yoga studios have popped up everywhere offering specialty classes like pre-natal yoga, rock n’ roll yoga and kids yoga. There’s even doga… yoga with your dog.  (Who wouldn’t want an enlightened canine counterpart?)

About five years ago, I began practicing yoga when my employer offered a free weekly class at the office.  The instructor was friendly and encouraging and I was intrigued to learn what yoga was about.  At first, my athletic competitiveness drew me to conquer the headstands, backbends and other physical feats.  (Eventually, I did gain the flexibility and strength to stand on my head for minutes at a time.) However, as I was busy showing off upside-down headstands the real benefits of yoga were sneaking up on me.

Yoga uses movement, breath, posture and meditation to help one find harmony between the mind and body and learn to establish a healthy and balanced approach to life.  Without realizing it, I found myself using yoga breathing to battle stresses at work and fight off moments of creeping anxiety. Like many in our culture, I led an overly busy life and my control freak tendencies often had me stressed about managing it all. By focusing on the present, taking deep breaths and turning my attention inward, I learned to calm myself down and put my anxieties in perspective. 

Over time, my yoga practice has become a quieter one, sometimes performing simple, rhythmic poses before bed or even just focusing inward and practicing slow breathing while waiting in a long line.  But I still sling my mat over my shoulder and head to the gym for an athletic yoga class now and then because I love a good sweat.  Still, the other benefits of yoga can be achieved almost anywhere: while stranded in airports, fighting tourist traffic on Michigan Avenue in Chicago or even recently during the birth of my daughter (I thanked my lucky stars for the lessons of inner peace, endurance and stress management that yoga has taught me).   

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