Yoga: Strength, flexibility combined

In recent years, yoga has become one of the most popular fitness trends, synonymous with calm and relaxation. But, if you enter a yoga studio thinking that you'll just be sitting around stretching, you're in for a surprise. There is a lot more to it.

While relaxation and a sense of well-being are benefits of yoga, there are others. Strength and endurance are big parts of all yoga styles, and the styles are numerous.

"The word that most Westerners associate with yoga practice is 'hatha yoga' which, when translated from the Sanskrit, means 'forceful' or 'strong,'" said Connie Windon, a yoga instructor at St. Simons Health and Fitness Club, on St. Simons Island.

"A hatha yoga practice was designed primarily as a preparatory stage of physical exertion or purification to prepare the body for meditation. While meditative in nature, yoga is much more."

Other types of yoga, such as "bikram" and "ashtanga," are more intense. In bikram, the room or studio is heated to 90 to 105 degrees. Windon says the idea is to warm the muscles for a deeper stretching.

"There are 26 postures in a bikram practice and all postures are done twice during the course of the practice. Practices are 90 minutes in length," she said.

Astanga is no walk in the park, either. For this, practitioners engage in an energetic, dynamic flow that is physically demanding.

"This practice provides cardiovascular benefits as well as agility and muscle strength to move through the challenging series of postures, matching the flow of movement with the flow of inhalations and exhalations," Windon said.

"When moving through an active flow practice, heart rates increase and the body releases toxins through perspiration, increased respiration and the release of toxins through compression. Muscles strengthen and respond to the isometric aspects of a yoga practice, as well," she said.

Two other forms of yoga are "iyengar" and "yin." Iyengar yoga focuses more on detail and appropriate body alignment while holding postures. It's often used to heal injuries or to stretch inflexible parts of the body. Yin yoga is about holding postures for a long period of time, often from three to five minutes or more.

"It strengthens and opens the deep connective tissues of the body as well as the joints. While years of regular yoga asana, or posture practice, will make anyone healthier, stronger and more flexible, at some point the muscles will have reached their limit of flexibility," she said.

"New depths in postures, deeper ranges of motion and increased energy flow may only be achievable by focusing on the deeper tissues and joints of the body."

While there are many styles and forms, many instructors say that you can get an effective, physical workout from practices.

Lawanda Mann, a yoga instructor at Bailey's Gym, in Brunswick, says that she gets a phenomenal workout from her astanga practices.

"The people who come in and take my classes are wanting a workout, and that's what they're getting. I actually get more sore from yoga than anything else that I teach," she said.

Mann says that the beauty of a yoga class is that everyone can benefit, regardless of experience.

"The person doing yoga for the first time and those who've been doing it for years both benefit. They are learning more about how to use body in the poses. You're keeping the body heat and building heat through the class. That allows your muscles to get greater flexibility and there's lots of strength," Mann said.

Many yoga centers combine the different styles.

Sabine Vera, owner of Elysian Fields Yoga in Redfern Village, on St. Simons Island, says that most instructors there teach a composite of styles.

"Everybody in American is mixing yoga. Most everybody is teaching a synthesis of the various styles. That's our personality in America. We're a country of go-getters," she said. "We like to make yoga a challenging thing. We gravitate toward that."

One new challenge that has intrigued Vera is known as shadow yoga. Based upon ancient hatha yogic texts, it advocates the practice of freestyle. The positions and movements have been adapted from the range of human activities, including martial arts, dance and crafts.

"Shadow yoga has no presence on the East Coast. It's a blend of martial art forms woven into the asanas," she said. "It's wonderful and challenging. It's about refining all the training movements. Yoga refines the sense of how we live in the body and operate the body. That's a strong, active and fun process."

She includes elements of shadow yoga in her Fire of Life class at Elysian Fields. But the 90-minute experience includes the whole yoga matrix. Vera has studied with the founder of astanga yoga and has practiced iyengar for years. She brings both of these elements into her practices.

Vera also incorporates a lot of integral strength training.

"I add a lot of strengthening gestures in my classes. You can't create deep flexibility without strength. Your flexibility is supported by your strength. Flexibility without strength leaves you vulnerable," she said.