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Breathing as art
Yoga offers peaceful respite from stress of everyday life
Friday, June 20, 2008
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by ROB PERRY
Beth Cory began practicing yoga after a friend lent her an exercise video. Soon, Cory found yoga enriching her life.
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It’s not about ‘‘pretzel poses,” it’s not about religion (at least not in its Western incarnation), it’s not a trendy pastime designated for the rich and pampered (try opening a gossip magazine without seeing Gwyneth Paltrow or Madonna leaving a workout with a yoga mat tucked under an arm.)
‘‘In the culture we live in, we don’t have time to be quiet with ourselves,” said Ann Hunt, a yoga teacher who splits her time between Lexington Park and Costa Rica. ‘‘Slowing down is a skill we haven’t accomplished. Learning to relax is something a lot of people really have to work to do. People don’t know how to breathe.”
According to the American Medical Association, 80 percent of all diseases are stress-related, and there is evidence that one of the most significant factors in health and leading a long life is how well a person can breathe.
‘‘We are shallow breathers, who breathe up in the chest,” said Trudy Carlson, a yoga instructor in La Plata. ‘‘Yoga teaches you to breathe deep in the diaphragm.”
Breathing deeply packs blood with oxygen, nourishing and repairing the body’s cells while maintaining health, according to AMA material.
Up to 70 percent of toxins can be expelled by the body through deep breathing, a tenet of yoga and something on which instructors focus.
Yoga — a Sanskrit word meaning ‘‘union” — has been practiced for thousands of years. Developed in India, the physical element of yoga was simply meant to prepare the body for long periods of meditation.
However, now — especially in the United States — yoga is for many a purely physical regimen.
Although, often those who practice yoga find themselves in a peaceful state — whether religious or not (Carlson has even taught classes at Grace Lutheran Church.)
‘‘Yoga is meditation in motion,” said Beth Cory, who runs Yoga for All and is based in Chesapeake Beach. ‘‘It is honoring and accepting your body for what it is right now.”
Cory was into aerobics and weight training before she tried yoga on a whim about eight years ago after a friend gave her a power yoga tape.Ê
Soon, Cory was hooked.
‘‘The more I exercised to the video, the more I felt like I needed to,” she said.
Practitioners find themselves viewing yoga less as a chore and more as a treat.
‘‘I need all the help I can get,” joked Barbara Mohler, a La Plata resident and interior designer who is eyeing retirement.
‘‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she said, adding that yoga eases pain and helps with balance. ‘‘I wish I did it more often.”
Mohler is a member of Carlson’s chair yoga class at the Whispering Winds Wellness Center in La Plata.
Meeting twice a week — on Tuesdays and Thursdays — the members of the class sit in chairs instead of on the floor on yoga mats.
Gail Seith, another chair yoga member, tried traditional yoga but found it too difficult. Finding chair yoga let La Plata resident Seith reap the program’s benefits.
‘‘I’m more nimble and my joints don’t hurt,” she said. ‘‘I breathe a lot better, I breathe more deeply.”
Sun and moon union
Hatha yoga is practiced in the United States.
Introduced by Yogi Swatmarama in 15th-century India, ‘‘ha” is the Sanskrit word for ‘‘sun” and ‘‘tha” the Sanskrit word for ‘‘moon,” thus uniting the opposite currents in the body, according to several Web sites dedicated to the practice.
It is not only used to strengthen the body, it is said to strengthen the mind.
While the sun warms and energizes, the moon cools and relaxes. Hatha yoga is a blending or a balance of the two.
‘‘As overused a mantra as it might be, body-mind-soul is what yoga is,” said Hunt, a yoga teacher who is certified by the Yoga Alliance. ‘‘The physical, emotional and the possibility of connecting with a divine spirit ... it’s bringing together the dimensions of ourselves.”
The Yoga Alliance, an organization that registers both yoga teachers and teacher training programs, is headquartered in Clinton.
A Knoxville, Tenn., native, Hunt headed east for college, majoring in dance and psychology at American University. Always interested in how the mind and body operate and introduced to yoga through a dance teacher, Hunt found the mind-body connection in yoga to fulfill her interests.
From there, ‘‘It was in and out of my life,” she said.
After a stint in Mexico, a job opportunity landed her in the Lexington Park area about 12 years ago where as far as she knew she was one of only two yoga practitioners.
Hunt, who spends three winter months teaching in Costa Rica, is currently teaching a handful of future instructors who will likely set up shop in Southern Maryland.
Cory, who teaches at the World Gym in Owings, also heads credited classes at the Prince Frederick and Leonardtown campuses of the College of Southern Maryland, as well as private lessons, kids’ yoga and corporate gigs.
She started teaching four years ago on a part-time basis, then after being laid off due to budget reasons from a nonprofit organization in Baltimore, she began teaching full time.
She has seen yoga bloom in Calvert County within a few years.
‘‘I’m amazed,” said Cory, who is leading a sunrise yoga class Sunday on the North Beach boardwalk. ‘‘Yoga in Calvert County has just blossomed. So many classes are going on in so many different places.”
Take time for time out
While some might think yoga is a trend — not unlike the Tae Bo craze or Atkins diet mania — it has something not many other programs can boast.
It has a history going back millennia.
‘‘If it is a trend, it’s the best one to come along,” Hunt said.
It is also easily adapted to all levels of physical ability.
While Carlson instructs chair yoga, Hunt once had a student break his toe as a result of a vigorous yoga session.
Athletes use yoga to complement training, often calling on its methods to address breathing and focus issues.
‘‘Yoga is something a person does for themselves,” Hunt said. ‘‘It is about focusing on your breathing and your body. Let go of your distractions and take some time for yourself.”
An hour of deep breathing and meditation might seem self-absorbed for a harried mother or a corporate bigwig, but those are the type of people who might benefit the most. By focusing and taking the time to find their center, a person is better equipped to deal with stressors that clog up everyday living.
‘‘You learn to respond instead of react,” Cory said.
Hunt said that yoga is one of the oldest methods of self care.
‘‘Listening to that voice inside of us,” she said. ‘‘That to me is yoga.”
Cory recommends doubters take a class, even if they are leery of twisting into that fabled pretzel shape or don’t think they are flexible.
‘‘That’s the reason you come,” she said. ‘‘And be prepared to be amazed at the benefits.”
