Is yoga for you?
By Paula Rath
Advertiser Staff Writer
 |
| At the Silence Dance Center studio in Kaimuki, Sandi Jordan, an Iyengar-certified yoga instructor, works with Wakenda Edwardsen in adjusting her posture in the trikasana, or triangle pose.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser Choosing a yoga teacher How can you avoid yoga injuries? Choosing the right style of yoga, and the right teacher, is a start. Yoga is taught and experienced at many levels. There are four basic approaches to yoga: • athletic What is your goal? What do you want to achieve with yoga? Once you've answered these questions, you can research the type of yoga that seems most suited to your needs. "The student is drawn to the style that serves them," said Tania Ingrahm of Yoga Hawaii. Atmosphere is another consideration. Some people are oblivious to their surroundings when doing yoga. An aerobics class could be stomping overhead or music blasting from next door, and they wouldn't even notice. However, if you are a person who needs a calm, quiet environment in order to relax and experience yoga fully, check out the surroundings before you sign on for a class. |
The International Health Racquet & Sportsclub Association, a nonprofit trade group in Boston that follows fitness trends, reports the demand for yoga in health clubs has dramatically increased during the past five years, from 400,000 club participants in 1997 to 1.2 million in 2001, as noted in Yoga Journal.
It's part of the shift from a focus on the ideal body to a more holistic view of stress reduction, health and fitness.
But is yoga for everybody? Yes and no. As yoga's popularity grows, it's important to note that not all yoga classes are the same and choosing your instructor will play a key role in your yoga success.
If you're considering taking yoga, or even if you're already a practitioner, it's important to consider the limitations of your body and to learn to choose an appropriate and qualified teacher.
The word yoga originates from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning union. It's based on practices to encourage the union of body, mind, emotions and intellect.
As a nonimpact fitness activity, yoga is thought to be quite safe. After all, how can you get injured doing yoga? Yet, some yoga poses can — and have — posed problems for Island exercisers.
Paula Nokes of Waikiki had been taking Iyengar yoga for nearly 20 years. About a year and half ago, as she was unfolding from a forward bend, "something happened to a disk in my back, and I couldn't straighten up. My back was not the same for about six months." She switched to Kripalu, a different form of yoga, and while doing a triangle pose she re-injured her disk.
Nokes' recommendation: "Teachers should screen their students because not every posture is safe for every body. The teacher may never have had a back problem, so they may not know what's OK for people who don't have a perfect body."
Charlotte Nuessle, who teaches Kripalu and Vini yoga at Kapi'olani Women's Center and Straub Pearlridge, said, "Don't override your common sense."
It's important to start with a realistic assessment of your body and its limitations, then to discuss any physical problems with the teacher before taking a yoga class. Don't hesitate to ask if the teacher has experience with working with students who share your particular problems.
"You (the yoga teacher) need to understand anatomy and body mechanics, or you can really hurt someone," warned Biyanka Ekmekcioglu, fitness director for the Oahu Club.
Listening to your body is something Big Island yoga instructor Beverly Frederick emphasizes on her CD, "Yoga Therapy," which gives guided instruction for yoga at home, suitable for beginners and more advanced practitioners. Frederick's voice guides students through a series of slow exercises focused on various parts of the body. The CD also comes with a poster showing various poses.
Cathy Ostrem of 'Aina Haina took yoga for six months, until she was asked "to hyperextend my knees and work through the pain. I was trying to compete with everyone else and do what they were doing. Now I know that if I want to do yoga, I have to do it at my own pace. My body was telling me: 'Don't do this,' but I did it anyway and I paid for it."
Competition is a concept that is generally anathema to yoga. Yet Western forms of exercise are so competition-oriented that it's difficult for us to get away from the idea. If you're a competitive type, it's important to discuss this with your yoga teacher.
Certain health problems can be contraindications for yoga. Among them: heart problems, low or high blood pressure, pregnancy (if you're just starting yoga), and some back or joint problems.
How instructors teach
Many types of yoga are available in the Islands. There are also teachers with a wide range of backgrounds, from those who have "lived the yoga life" and studied with a yogi in India for decades, to those who recently switched from teaching, say, step aerobics to teaching yoga.
Each type of yoga comes from the personal experience of a yogi, and his approach and tradition should be reflected in the teachers.
It's more than book learning, said Aadil Palkhivala, CEO of Inner Works Co., director of Yoga Centers in Bellevue, Wash., and a writer for Yoga Journal, who trains Iyengar yoga teachers all over the world. He spoke by phone between teaching stints at the Yoga Journal Conference in Colorado (with 5,000 attendees) and leading teacher training in Germany and Austria.
Palkhivala, who also has a home on the Big Island, said Hawai'i is especially conducive to the study of yoga because of "the nature of the people in Hawai'i. They are more gentle and kind and less in a hurry. They are also extremely respectful. That's a very big part of yoga — to be respectful." He added that teachers and students in Hawai'i are "much more serious and committed to yoga. It's the reason I keep coming back."
Assessing your needs
When choosing a teacher, Palkhivala said, you should ask what type of yoga they do, whom the teacher has studied with, and how long they have been studying.
"More important than paper qualifications are the feelings of the heart. A yoga student should feel from the inside more comfortable with the teacher's lifestyle, as shown in mannerisms, movements. Is this person doing yoga or living yoga? Any chimpanzee can do yoga, but the living of yoga requires a lifestyle of self-discovery."
Judy Vierck of Makiki has practiced hatha yoga for 15 years here and in India. She currently studies Iyengar and Anusara.
"I was competitive with my yoga in the beginning and I never got hurt, but I was lucky," she said. "Yoga is never competitive in India. They go inside and listen to their own body. The goal is to bring full light into the body."
The challenge, she added, is to "find a teacher you resonate with, and after a few classes you'll find what their path has been and their inner journey."
Last year, Joan White, chair of the national certification committee of the Iyengar Yoga National Association, came to Hawai'i to conduct certification exams. She came, she said, because there were six prospective teachers here and only four on the Mainland. The good news: all six passed their exams and are now certified at the introductory level to teach Iyengar yoga.
The bad news is that not every branch or type of yoga is as organized as Iyengar, which has four levels of certifications, each requiring written and practical exams.
White said that a teacher should ask a potential student for a brief medical history, including any conditions that might make certain postures problematic.
White said alarms should go off in your head if you tell a teacher that something hurts, and they tell you to "do the pose anyway."
A good teacher will be able to modify the pose to work for you. It's also dangerous when a teacher won't answer a question and "seems to be trying to establish a mystique. They should be able to say, 'I don't know but I'll find out,'" White said.
• • •
Yoga studios
Several styles of yoga are taught in the Islands. Here's a list of some of the yoga studios and instructional sites on O'ahu, and their course offerings.
Bikram's Yoga College of India
Kaimuki
1151-B 12th Ave., 737-5519
Kailua studio
600 Kailua Road, No. 205
262-6886
Type of yoga offered: Bikram
Number of classes in 1995: 11
Classes in 2000: 34
Classes in 2004: 37
Instructor certifications: All are Bikram-certified, having passed a two-month teacher's training in Los Angeles.
North Shore
67-208 Goodale Ave., Waialua
637-5700
Gold's Gym
768 South St.
521-4653
Types of yoga offered: Ashtanga, various forms of Hatha, and "power yoga"
Number of classes in 1995: 0
Classes in 2000: 1
Classes in 2004: 7
Instructor certifications: Most are certified in their specialized forms of yoga; some are connected with Yoga Hawaii (see below).
Honolulu Club
832 Ward Ave.
543-3900
Types of yoga offered: Ashtanga, Iyengar, Kripalu
Number of classes per week in 1995: 3
Classes in 2000: 7
Classes in 2004: 15
Instructor certifications: in Iyengar and Kripalu techniques.
O'ahu Club
6800 Hawai'i Kai Drive
Information: Biyanka at 395-3300
Types of yoga offered: various types of hatha yoga
Number of classes per week in 1995: 0
Classes in 2000: 0
Classes in 2004: 6
Instructor certifications: certifications from the American Council on Exercise
Silent Dance Center
1127 11th Ave.
526-9642
Type of yoga offered: Iyengar
Number of classes in 1995: 24 at Mo'ili'ili site
Classes in 2000: 25 at Mo'ili'ili, 8 at Kailua
Classes in 2004: 25 at Mo'ili'ili, 12 at Kailua, 32 at Kaimuki
Instructor certifications: Most are certified in Iyengar.
Sun & Moon Yoga
131 Hekili St., Suite 113
230-2288; sunandmoon.com
Type of yoga offered: versions of hatha yoga; director Paula Stockman calls it physical stuff.
Number of classes in 1995: 0
Classes in 2000: 0
Classes in 2004: 23
Instructor certifications: Of five instructors, three have 200-hour teacher training associated with Yoga Alliance; the other two are achieving certification.
Yoga Hawaii
1152 Koko Head Ave., Suite 203
739-9642
Types of yoga offered: Ashtanga, Kripalu, Shivananda and prenatal.
Number of classes in 1995: 0
Classes in 2000: 20
Classes in 2004: 26
Instructor certifications: Most have done the monthlong, 200-hour Kripalu certification. One is in India studying Ashtanga with Yogi Shri. Yoga Hawaii will begin offering a 200-hour Kripalu teacher training in May.
On the Web
A yoga primer
When choosing a yoga class, the first question to ask yourself is: What do I want from yoga?
Follow-up questions include: Are you more concerned with the physical, intellectual or spiritual aspects of yoga? Do you want to work up a sweat to help you lose weight? Do you want to improve your posture? Work on your breathing? Meditate?
There are many different types of yoga, and the names can be foreign-sounding and confusing. To help make sense out of it, and to help you choose the right form of yoga for your needs, we went to the Web site of Yoga Journal, a respected magazine.
An article by Jennifer Cook of Boulder, Colo., offers a glossary of sorts. We summarize it here, highlighting the types of yoga most frequently offered in Hawai'i.
Most of the classes in Hawai'i are some form of hatha yoga. This refers to a physical discipline focusing on asanas (postures or exercises) and breathing in order to prepare the body for spiritual pursuits.
Ashtanga: A vigorous, fast-paced series of sequential postures practiced by yoga master K. Pattabhi Jois of Mysore, India. The system is based on six challenging and difficult series of asanas, increasing in difficulty, allowing students to work at their own pace. Students are led nonstop through one or more of the series.
Bikram: Designed by Bikram Choudhury of Los Angeles in the 1970s, it's a more regimented, almost militaristic style of yoga. Expect to sweat in a Bikram's class, as the room is heated to 100 to 105 degrees and classes last for 90 minutes, consisting of 26 sequenced traditional hatha postures.
Iyengar: The trademark of Iyengar is an intense focus on the subtleties of each posture. Created by B.K.S. Iyengar, now 85 years old, poses are typically held much longer than in other schools of yoga. Iyengar also uses props such as belts, blocks, chairs and blankets to help accommodate special needs resulting from students' injuries or structural imbalances.
Kripalu: Initiated in the 1970s by yogi Amrit Desai, headquartered in western Massachusetts. He developed postures into three stages: willful practice, willful surrender and meditation in motion. Its purpose is to help practitioners focus better and listen to the body's messages. Charlotte Nuessle of Kapi'olani Women's Center described it as encouraging "emotional balance and spiritual awakening."
Power yoga: In 1995, Bender Birch set out to give a Western spin to Ashtanga yoga. It's a rigorous workout that develops strength and flexibility while keeping students on the move. It has taken on a broad range of applications, so it's wise to check with the teacher before taking a class.
